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Copy 1 



CHICKS 

HATCHING & REARING 



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WEBB PUBLISHING CO. 

ST. PAUL, MINN. 



CHICKS 

HATCHING AND REARING 



A Manual of Dependable Instruction in Incuba- 
ting, Brooding, Feeding, Housing and De- 
veloping Winners and Layers; Fattening, 
Killing and Marketing Broilers 
and Roasting Chickens 



BY H. A. NOURSE 
and Nineteen Other Successful Poultrymen. 



COMPLETELY ILLUSTRATED 



Price Twenty-five Cents 



WEBB PUBLISHING COMPANY 

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA 



c^ 



< 



\x 



LISHARY of CONGRESS 

Two Copies Received 

OCT t »90^ 

Copyrifttt Entry 

CLA& ft XXc.No. 
COPY B. 



Copyright, 1907. 

WEBB PUBLISHING CO., 

St. Paul, Minn. 



CHICKS 

INTRODUCTION 

Success in hatching and rearing the chicks is absolutely 
necessary for profitable poultry keeping. The fancier, 
the egg farmer and the market poulterer must produce every 
year a certain greater or less number of chickens. The 
fancier must have cockerels and pullets for exhibition 
and sale, the egg man must have pullets to lay, the poulterer 
must have tender broilers and roasters for his trade and 
all must replace the stock sold, or aged beyond its useful- 
ness. 

This young stock is required to be good or it will not 
satisfactorily and profitably serve its various purposes; 
the mere fact that it has been brought from the shell and 
made to live until it is time to market it, or to maturity, 
as the case may be, is no guaranty that it will sooner or 
later return a fair rate of interest on its cost. Thousands 
of chicks are hatched each year and placed in brooders, 
which, either because of weakness in the parent stock or 
improper incubation, are practically worthless, so far as 
their ability to make good growth and development is con- 
cerned. Other thousands which leave the shell strong 
and healthy are spoiled in the rearing, so that they reach 
the profit-turning age in such condition that they are unfit 
for the purposes of their owners. 

The only chick that is profitable is the one well hatched 
and well reared, so that it possesses health and vigor. This 
indicates the necessity of proper incubation, healthful 
brooding, correct feeding and intelligent cafe. It seems 



6 CHICKS 

to be the opinion of those who have the best right to know 
that not more than twenty-five per cent of the chicks that 
leave the shell each year receive proper treatment. Some- 
times this is due to shiftlessness of their owners, but more 
often is the result of a lack of knowledge of how to do the 
work. Apparently the need of more and better knowledge 
of the business of rearing the chicks is imperative, and it 
is the purpose of this book to furnish the required informa- 
tion on all phases of this branch of the poultry industry, 
in convenient form, in language which is easily understood 
and from such sources that its correctness is unquestioned. 
It is well known that there is no one method in the work 
of hatching and rearing which will prove equally result - 
ful in all places and under all conditions. In order that 
this book may be sufficiently broad so that it may cover 
any case, we have included in it descriptions of the methods 
of not one but dozens of successful poultrymen, each of 
whom 'tells, practically, the story of his success. From 
these methods the reader may easily select that which 
seems best adapted to his environment and circumstances. 
By reading the book complete he ' will obtain a general 
knowledge of facts which apply to the industry as a whole 
which will make him far better prepared to handle success- 
fully any difficulties which may confront him in his daily 
work. 

WEBB PUBLISHING COMPANY. 



CONDITIONS THAT AFFECT FERTILITY. 

Success in Hatching and Rearing Depends Upon the Health 

of the Breeding Fowls and the Manner in Which 

They are Housed and Cared For. 



By F. Q. Thayer. 

Every season much disappointment is caused by a low- 
percentage of fertility of eggs or the failure of such eggs 
to give satisfaction during the hatching season. 

Fowls should be at their best their second season for 
breeding. If not forced they will lay large eggs which will 
hatch stronger and better chicks. A cock that is in his 
prime will get better chickens than it was possible for him 
to get as a cockerel. A method employed by many is to 
mate cock birds with pullets and cockerels with two-year- 
olds. All breeding males should be selected for their type, 
vigor and activity. 

Health is the Foundation of Success. 

The first thing to secure good fertility is good breeding 
stock that is standard and has health, vigor and good 
constitution.- This is the foundation of successful incuba- 
tion. Unless the breeding birds are sound, healthy and 
in the best possible condition for reproduction of their 
kind, satisfactory results cannot be obtained. With good 
stock we may expect, under proper conditions, to get a 
high percentage of fertile eggs. Eggs from birds out of 
condition, either from inbreeding, sickness, improper food 
or unsanitary surroundings will not produce the best results. 
Never breed from a bird that is sick or ever has had a severe 
sickness. Keeping the male bird with the hens will not 
insure strong, fertile eggs if his welfare is not seen to. If 
the hens are fat or dumpy the eggs will be infertile. 

The number of hens to a male varies according to the 
breed and conditions under which the fowls are kept. 
Do not allow more than one male in the pen at the same time 



8 CHICKS 

as they will fight and in various ways increase infertility. 
Exchanging the male birds every four or five days is more 
likely to insure fertile eggs, but of course the males should 
be similar. When selecting a male bird we must not lose 
sight of the fact that he comprises one half of the flock. 
Therefore, select one that is vigorous, strong and well 
developed, and above all, is "boss. " One Vigorous, active, 
prepotent male will give greater fertility than three or four 
sluggish males. Breeding pens should be mated in the early 
part of January. By this means* they become acquainted 
and are friendly when eggs are wanted for hatching. After 
pens are mated a week or ten days it is a good plan to test 
the eggs; if they are trapnested you can tell which hens 
are laying fertile eggs and thus avoid setting infertile eggs. 

Nature's Conditions are Best. 

F6wls on free range will produce a greater percentage of 
strongly fertile eggs than those in confinement, other things 
being equal. Whenever possible the breeders should be 
allowed outdoor exercise, but never in wet weather. In 
good weather when the grass commences to get green they 
can get good green food, insects and bugs which are essen- 
tial to the best results in hatching, and insure a good fertil- 
ity record. To insure the best results we must get as 
near the natural conditions of summer as possible; this 
means a variety of food, sunshine, warmth, fresh air, green 
material, cleanliness and freedom from dampness. 

Exercise Essential to Fertility. 

The breeders should be given as large a run as possib/e 
for exercise is essential to health and the breeding stock 
must be kept busy if fertile eggs and strong germs are desired. 
Fowls that are closely confined to limited quarters where 
they do not get exercise or have access to sunshine and 
fresh air, even though well fed, are almost certain to produce 
eggs low in vitality and weak in fertility. One of the best 
methods of making the hens exercise is to feed the grains 
in a litter of straw one foot deep and make them scratch for 
it. Thus exercising and feeding are combined for the 
best results. The house should be large enough to give 
them sufficient room to exercise. Fowls crowded in. close 



CONDITIONS AFFECT FERTILITY 9 

quarters, without enough exercise, will soon have impaired 
health and cannot, on any account, produce very many 
fertile eggs, and those that are fertile will generally hatch 
chickens that are low in vitality. 

Feeding the Breeders. 

Few stop to consider the importance of the influence 
of food on the breeding stock. Do not use too stimulating 
foods, as it will force the breeders, thus causing weaker 
germs. It would be wise to feed more on grains with meat 
and vegetables frequently until the fowls are wanted to 
perpetuate their kind. Then feed them on an egg making 
ration with the moist mash fed at noon, or with the dry 
mash before them at all times. The value of green material 
cannot be overestimated. It should be supplied in liberal 
quantities and include cabbage, turnips, carrots, beets, man- 
gel-wurzels, potatoes, alfalfa or clover. Morning and 
night they work for food, composed of various grains scat- 
tered in the straw. Too much moist food will make watery 
eggs which will not hatch; or, if they do, the offspring will 
be weak in vitality. Grit, oyster shell- and charcoal should 
be where the fowls can get them at all times. Fresh water 
is essential, and should always be within their reach. 

Proper Housing is Important. 

The breeding birds should be comfortably housed. This 
means that they should be in a reasonably warm, airy 
house. It need not be heated for better results are obtained 
in cooler houses. The safest plan is to provide a comfortable 
building, so arranged that it can be thoroughly aired and 
sunned daily while the birds are exercising. Fresh air is 
one of the most important factors in obtaining, good fertile 
eggs that will hatch good strong chickens. Do not keep your 
houses tightly closed at night, but ventilate by means of 
cloth curtains. Keep the house clean and in good sanitary 
condition and keep the fowls free from lice and mites. Do 
not allow breeding fowls to run out on the snow and ice 
or to get wet in any way, as it will produce a shock to their 
systems which will reduce the fertility in the eggs. The 
curtain front poultry house is used at the Minnesota North- 
western Experiment Station with success. Dry, cool 



10 



CHICKS 



buildings are more to be desired than warm damp buildings-. 
Nothing will cause sickness any quicker than a close, damp, 
warm house. 

Care of Eggs for Hatching. 

Now comes the care of the eggs and here is where much 
trouble arises. Eggs for hatching cannot be handled 
too carefully. They should be gathered two or three times 
daily during hatching season so they will not get dirty, 
chilled or otherwise injured. Good, clean nests should be 
furnished, thus doing away with the washing of eggs. 

They should be kept at a medium temperature, between 
fifty degrees and sixty degrees being considered best for 
good results. Reject all imperfect, small and large eggs, 
and keep for hatching only uniform, medium eggs. If 
kept at too low a temperature the chilling injures them; 
if, on the other hand, the temperature is too high, develop- 
ment of life begins. If kept in too dry a room eggs evaporate 
very rapidly, and on that account especially they should 
not be exposed to a direct draught of air. They should 
be turned daily in order to prevent the yokes adhering to 
the shell, in which case the delicate membrane near the germ 
may be ruptured when the eggs are turned. Eggs to be 
hatched should be as fresh as possible when set. The older 
the eggs become the lower the fertility and the less the num- 
ber of vigorous chickens. 




HOW TO BUILD AN INCUBATOR HOUSE, 



The Requirements of a Successful Building in Which to 

Operate Incubators — How a Satisfactory, Inexpensive 

House Was Built on a Well=Known Poultry Farm 

— The Lumber and Other Material Required 

— Details of Construction. 



By Fred E. Dodge. 

Next to owning good incubators, the most essential thing 
on all successful poultry farms is having a proper place 
in which to operate them. Whether large breeder or 
small fancier, real success depends a great deal upon equip- 
ment; the best incubator made operated in a poor location 
has little chance to bring off good hatches of strong, healthy 
chicks. 

Incubators are found running in almost as many places 
as there are people running them. Some are operated in 
the front parlor, the attic, a spare bed room, or in the 
kitchen, where the rapidly changing temperature raises 
havoc with the regulation, and the steam from cooking, 
in some instances, warps the cases or supplies too much 
moisture to the eggs. The parlor is a favorite place, but 
the temperature varies there also. A majority of the 
incubators will be found in cellars under dwellings. 

Cellars Are Not Proper Places for Incubators. 

, Most cellars are too damp, are poorly lighted, and are 
seldom, if ever, well ventilated. In nine cases out of ten, 
the cellar is a poor place to put an incubator whether you 
are hatching with it or storing it. The dampness is apt 
to warp the case and put the machine in such condition that 
it will need to be run a week before the eggs can be put in. 
A season" or two of running incubators in such places 
will show the necessity of having a special building or room 
in which to operate them, if good hatches are expected to 



12 CHICKS 

be brought off when all other conditions are favorable. 
Some think it too expensive to build a house for one or two 
machines, not knowing that a good one can be built at a 
low cost. It is the object of this article to describe such 
a house, one that is not only cheap to construct, but which 
has the essential features. 

I have designed this house in a simple manner and have 
tried to make the drawings so that anyone not skilled in 
the use of carpenter's tools may build it themselves. The 
tools required are a spade, pick, hammer, saw, square, 
and level; tools that are found in almost every place. 

Essentials of a Good Incubator House. 

Having qjecided to build an incubator house, it is not a 
problem of how to conveniently cover a hole in the ground, 
but one of how best to build this covering that it may 
fully perform its functions. To successfully accomplish 
this, one must have knowledge of the requirements of such 
a house. The following are a few of the essentials and if 
your house will not fulfill all of them as near as practicable, 
when finished, it is useless to go to the expense of con- 
structing it; the house cellar will do as well and will cost 
you nothing as it is already built: 

First. The temperature within should remain nearly 
stationary at all times, regardless of external changes. 

Second/ It should have a system of ventilation that 
ventilates without causing a direct draft on the machines. 
Ventilation is the life of incubation; without the life giving 
ox}rgen it is impossible to develop the embryo chick. 

Third. There should be plenty of sunlight in the house. 
This will keep it sweet and dean and free from moldy 
growths. Direct sunlight, if allowed to enter all day, 
will heat up the interior, but this may be overcome by tack- 
ing muslin curtains in front of the windows and having them 
arranged so that they may be slipped back' when desired. 

Fourth. It should be built on a high spot so that it 
will be dry the year around. 

Fifth. The temperature within should be about fifty to 
sixty-five degrees, then eggs for hatching may be stored in 
places not occupied by incubators. If this house is well 



AN INCUBATOR HOUSE 13 

covered with dirt the temperature within in the summer 
wilt be about sixty-five degrees. 

Sixth. The volume of air in the whole room should be 
great enough so that the air will not become poluted with 
the lamp gas before the ventilators can remove the latter. 
It should be between seven and eight feet from floor to ceil- 
ing, which will give the desired volume. 

Atmospheric air is not a simple substance, but a mechani- 
cal mixture. Oxygen and nitrogen, the . principal consti- 
tuents, are present in very nearly the proportion of one 
part of oxygen to four parts of nitrogen by weight. Oxygen 
is one of the most important elements in the air; it is the 
active element in the chemical process of combustion and 
a somewhat similar process takes place in the lungs of human 
beings. The lamp on the incubator, while burning, con- 
sumes the oxygen in the air and throws off a gas called 
carbon dioxide or carbonic acid gas. Being 1.5 heavier 
than air it falls to the floor and there piles up like water 
filling a hole unless removed as fast as it is formed. This 
is the reason that the middle ventilator (see Fig. II) extends 
to within six inches of the floor and does not terminate 
near the roof like the first and third. If this gas is allowed 
to accumulate in the building it will get into the egg chamber 
of the incubator as nearly all incubators take in fresh air 
near the floor. If this gas is allowed to appear in quantity 
and allowed to remain long it will kill all the living germs 
in the eggs. I do not doubt that this is the cause of many 
failures with incubators. Having learned the main essen- 
tials of an incubator house, the mechanical construction 
comes next in order. This is a simple matter for the great- 
est problem is to know in what manner to build it. 
Making the Excavation. 

After the frost is out of the ground in the spring, select 
some high and dry spot and dig a rectangular hole in the 
ground 9x11x4 feet, have the sides sloping so that the 
floor of the cellar will be 8 x 10 feet. This should be dug 
with the long way east and west. At the center of the west 
end dig out the place for the stairs. At the surface this 
should measure 3x6. If in clay soil the steps may be made 
by digging the clay in the form of steps. These steps 






to* 



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AN INCUBATOR HOUSE 15 

should have a one foot tread and a fall of one foot, then 
there will be four of them. Loose boards three feet long 
and one foot wide can be placed on the clay, thus forming 
stairs at little cost. 

In throwing out the dirt care must be taken to throw it 
well away from the hole so as not to interfere with the car- 
penter work. If the soil is damp when the cellar is dug, 
it is well to leave it open to the sunlight for a few days 
to thoroughly dry it out before putting on the roof. 

The Lumber Required. 

The next thing in order is to buy the lumber. As this 
is to be built as cheaply as possible do not buy a foot of 
lumber that does not enter into actual construction. Fol- 
lowing is a bill of the lumber, etc., required. 

4 pieces 2 x 12, 10 feet long. 

4 pieces 2 x 12, 12 feet long. 

1 piece 4 x 4, 8 feet long. 

9 pieces 2x4, 12 feet long. 

1 piece 2x6, 12 feet long. 
15 pieces 1 x 12, 12 feet long. 

3 pieces of 8-inch flooring (for door). 

8 pieces 1 x 12, 10 feet long (for ventilators). 

2 three-light windows with 8 x 10 glass. 

2 lbs. 20-pehny spikes. 

3 lbs. 10-penny nails. 

1 pair of large strap hinges. 

2 pair small butt hinges. 

Constructing the Wood Work. 

Saw the 4x4 into four pieces each two feet long. With 
these and the plank build a rectangular box 10 x 12, two 
feet high, as shown in Figure I. This must be made with 
square corners and when finished be leveled up by placing 
small pieces of board under the low places. Figure II 
is, in part, a longitudinal section of Figure I. The drawings, 
I and II hardly require explanation and the frame may be 
built with little trouble. 

Now take the 2x6 and place it in the center and one and a 
half feet above the frame* just made. Support it tempo- 
rarily, then measure and cut the 2x4 pieces for the rafters 



16 



CHICKS 



and spike them in place. Figure II gives a plan and ele- 
vation of this work, and will explain the work in a more 
simple manner than words. 

Take the one foot boards ten feet long and build two 
square tubes ten feet long; saw one in two in the middle. 
These are the ventilators and are placed by sawing out a 
place 2 x 10 inches in one end and placing this over the 
2x6; nail to it as shown in Figure II. 

The roof boards can now be put on and covered with 
tar paper and then the whole building covered with two 
feet of earth. A frame for the door is made by sawing two 
pieces 2x4, six feet long and one piece 4 feet and nailing 
together and to the building as shown in Figure I. 

Saw the eight-inch flooring the right length and nail 
to two-inch boards six inches wide; this will form a bulk- 
head door for the entrance. Be sure and have dimensions 
so it will fit the frame, as shown in Figure I. 

Take the three-light windows and make a frame for them 
in the gable in each end of the roof as shown in Figure III. 
Hinge them at the bottom so they will swing in and deflect 
the air towards the ceiling. Board and cover both ends 
with earth as much as possible and the cellar is finished. 

If there is any doubt as to the method of procedure, a 
careful study of the different drawings will -clear it up. 




Incubator Chicks Enjoying the Morning Sun. 



SUCCESS WITH INCUBATORS. 

The Location of an Incubator and its Influence on the Hatch 

— The Value of an Even Temperature and Pure 

Air — Care of the Machine in Operation. 

By F. G. Thayer. 

The question arises where shall incubators be operated 
and what are the requirements for their successful operation? 

Do not buy a good incubator and operate it in an unfavor- 
able place and then blame the manufacturer for your poor 
hatches. 

Incubators are run in nearly e^ery conceivable location, 
many of which are unfavorable to the best results. Some 
of the places where they are operated are damp, poorly 
ventilated cellars, parlors, sitting rooms, attics, barns, 
poultry houses, and, best of all, specially constructed incu- 
bator houses or cellars, separate from the rest of the build- 
ings. 

The Advantage of an Incubator House. 

The reason why better results are obtained in specially 
constructed houses is that everything is made as convenient 
as possible and conditions are at their best. Machines 
operated in other places are at a disadvantage in many ways. 
Above ground, in a dwelling house, the machines require 
more attention as the variations in temperature, moisture 
and atmosphere are greater and must be adjusted accord- 
ingly. The incubator house should be put up early in the 
season, so that it will become thoroughly dry, and should 
be located on high, dry land. The house should be so 
located that perfect drainage is to be had throughout the 
year. A separate house will pay for itself by the larger 
percentage of chickens hatched in it. A house entirely 
above ground is at a disadvantage when hatching is carried 



18 CHICKS 

on in warm weather; the house partly underground is cooler 
and the temperature is more even. 

Construction of Incubator House. 

The incubator house should be built three to four feet 
into the ground. The walls should be built of brick, stone 
or of grout and rise two or three feet above the level of the 
ground. The floor should be made of cement on a good 
foundation. ' On top of the ground wall, should be placed 
your windows which should be double, those outside being 
hinged at the top, the inside ones hinged at the bottom, so 
avoiding direct draft on the machines when windows are 
open. They should also be fitted with cloth curtains so 
that the intense rays of the sun will not affect the tempera- 
ture or moisture in the room. By placing muslin curtains 
in the openings in the ceiling and end of the building thorough 
ventilation can be obtained. At one side should be built 
a dark room where eggs can be tested in the daytime as 
well as at night, thus doing away with much unnecessary 
night work. Another partition should inclose another 
room where eggs can be kept for hatching under proper 
conditions. 

Conditions Surrounding the Incubator. 

A damp atmosphere without the machine is better than 
dry, heated air. When the air without is dry, the floor 
should be moistened with water. An even temperature 
is desired for best results. The temperature of the room 
should be about fifty degrees Fahrenheit. Thorough 
ventilation is essential for hatching vigorous chicks. Oxy- 
gen is necessarv for the embryo; lack of it causes poor 
hatches and weak chickens. As the lamps consume oxygen 
in burning and throw off carbon dioxide, plenty of fresh air 
must be admitted to the room. If the machine is run in a 
living room more moisture is needed, and in every case 
extra care should be taken to provide a supply of fresh, 
pure air. In low lying sections and near lakes or large 
rivers, where fog or much humidity prevails, no additional 
moisture is needed, while a- considerable amount of ventilation 
is required. In a rarified atmosphere, a very considerable 
amount of moisture is necessary to secure even a fair hatch, 



SUCCESS WITH INCUBATORS 19 

and not nearly as much ventilation is needed. Kerosene 
odors and exhausted air are very injurious to the hatch and 
must be removed by ventilation. 

Operating the Hatcher. 

In running the incubators use nothing but the best of 
kerosene as less smoke and soot will result. It is best to 
trim and fill the lamps in the morning, and do all necessary 
regulating of machines at the same time so that you will 
not have to stay and watch the machines at night to see 
that nothing goes wrong. 

Incubators should never be jarred when in use. Very 
clear practical instructions come with each machine and 
should be carefully followed. Never allow the sun to shine 
on the incubators as it causes the temperature to rise. Use 
a spirit level on top of the incubator, to test it, from back 
to front and from side to side. Block up under the legs 
of the machine until you get it level. If the body of the 
incubator is not level the egg chamber will not heat evenly. 
Be sure it sits firmly. 

Fill the egg tray with as many eggs as will go m easily, 
but do not pile them up or attempt to double up by placing 
eggs on top of a full tray. Keep the incubator lamp clean 
so it will give you a clear, steady, bright light. Put in a new 
wick when starting each hatch. Follow the instructions 
that come with each machine. 

Advantages of Using Incubators. 

With an incubator you can hatch chickens out of season 
and on a large scale. Your machine is always ready when 
you desire to start. It is cheaper to run incubators than 
it is to use hens for hatching large numbers of chicks. 

It enables one to start his chickens absolutely free from 
lice. The incubator does not break eggs like the sitting 
hen. It saves time that would otherwise be employed in 
caring for many sitting hens. 



HATCHING AND REARING THE CHICKS. 



Incubating and Brooding by Natural and Artificial Methods 

— The Necessity of Obtaining Strong, Fertile Eggs — Oper= 

ating the Incubator — Taking Off the Hatch — 

Brooding and Feeding the Chicks — Dry Feed 

Versus Damp Mashes — Free Range 

for Future Breeders. 



By H. A. Nourse. 

No poultryman has ever achieved success in the poultry 
business sufficient to make a profit, who has not been able 
to produce strong, healthy chicks, and to so care for and 
feed them that they will grow rapidly and develop proper- 
ly. While there are no momentous secrets connected with 
this work, there are certain matters and conditions which 
must be right, or the results will not be satisfactory. 

Strong, fertile eggs are of primary importance and such 
eggs are produced by none other than healthy, vigorous 
stock. Other eggs may hatch and the chicks may live and 
grow, but they will not return a satisfactory profit on the 
money and time invested. Upon the condition of the breed- 
ing stock, then, depends to a great extent the success of 
the season's work. 

No one attempts now-a-days to hatch many early chicks 
without the use of incubators. The use of these machines 
has practically revolutionized the business of hatching 
and rearing, and where one plant was found ten years ago 
that hatched 500 chickens before April first, fifty are found 
today. Artificial hatching is no longer an experiment. 
It has been proved time and time again that better hatches 
can be produced at less expense by artificial than by natural 
methods, if a considerable number of eggs are incubated. 

The Location for the Incubator. 

Although an incubator will operate successfully under 



HATCHING AND REARING 



21 



adverse conditions, there are certain circumstances which 
the best machines cannot overcome, and which uninformed 
operators occasionally throw around them. Some years 
ago, a cellar was considered by far the best place in which 
to operate a machine, the main idea being to secure a place 
having a fairly even temperature. Since, it has been dis- 
covered that, although uniformity of temperature is desir- 
able, ventilation and some sunlight are fully as important. 









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Corner in a Substantial, Well Lighted Incubator House Which is Below 
Ground to the Sills of the Windows. 



The oxygen of pure air is very essential to success in this 
work and good hatches of strong chicks cannot be obtained 
when the machine is surrounded by foul air. The most 
satisfactory incubator rooms are partially below ground 
but have two or more feet of each side, or at least the south 
side, above ground, with sufficient window space to admit 
plenty of light. Effective ventilation is more difficult 
to provide in such a building than the one which is wholly 
above ground, but if air is admitted near the ceiling through 



22 CHICKS 

cloth diaphragms and drawn out from near the floor through 
vertical pipes which extend up through and above the roof, 
satisfactory results will be obtained. 

Operating the Incubator. 

The incubator is not by any means difficult to operate. 
One of the mistakes most frequently made, especially by 
beginners, is buying a machine late in the season, very near 
the time when it is desired to operate it. It should be re- 
membered that spring is a busy season for the incubator 
companies, and that it is sometimes impossible for them, 
however well equipped they may be, to fill an order the 
-same day as it is received. Again if they are able to do this, 
there is no certainty that shipments will not be delayed by 
the transportation companies. Instances are on record 
where incubators have been delayed a month when the ship- 
ping distance was less than two hundred miles. It is ad- 
visable for every beginner to have his machine some time 
before he desires to fill it with eggs in order to become fully 
acquainted with its operation. 

Most machines are shipped practically ready to run, it 
being the work of but a few minutes to put on the regulator 
and adjust it, screw the legs on and place th? lamp in posi- 
tion. Every machine should be level before it is started 
and it is best if it stands upon a firm foundation where it 
will not be jarred materially during the season. Although 
it is possible to operate an incubator in a moving freight 
car, it is not advisable to subject the machine to such con- 
ditions when it is not necessary. 

Three or four days should intervene after the heat is 
turned on before the eggs are placed on the trays and incuba- 
tion started. This is required to get the machine thorough- 
ly dried out, warmed through in every part, and the regu- 
lator exactly adjusted. The burner of the lamp should be 
thoroughly cleaned frequently and the wick trimmed once 
each day, preferably in the morning. All flues through 
which the direct draft from the flame passes should be 
cleaned thoroughly once a week if they can be reached. A 
swab on- the end of a pliable wire is the best tool for the 
purpose. 

None but eggs of normal size and shape should be used 



HATCHING AND REARING 23 

for hatching in incubators or under hens. Some writers 
advise sprinkling the floor under the machine, sprinkling the 
eggs, placing damp cloths and sponges on the egg trays 
and other means of supplying moisture. In most cases 
these are not only unnecessary, but detrimental. Sprinkling 
the eggs is not at all to be advised, because when the mois- 
ture evaporates, it cools the shells of the eggs more or less, 
even though the thermometer may not show any difference 
in temperature. 

Care of Eggs During Incubation. 

Upon the length of time that eggs should be cooled dur- 
ing the process of incubation and upon when the cooling 
should take place, opinion differs considerably, and a few 
incubator operators deny the advisability of cooling at all. 
It is the opinion of the majority, however, that intelligent 
cooling is necessary in order to secure the strongest chicks. 
Obviously it will not do to take the eggs out of the incubator 
and let them stand long in a low temperature such as fre- 
quently surrounds incubators operated in the winter or 
early spring. In such cases the cooling that the eggs 
receive when taken out of the machine and turned is all 
that they can stand to advantage. When the temperature 
of the air in the room is fifty or above, the time that the 
eggs may be left out of the machine may be increased from 
that required to turn the eggs and replace them in the 
machine to from ten to thirty minutes towards the end of the 
incubating period, according to the temperature of the air 
surrounding them. In a temperature of seventy or eighty 
degrees, it is perfectly safe and perhaps advantageous to allow 
them to remain out half an hour on each of the last five 
days before pipping time. Instances abound where eggs 
have remained out of the incubator over night under these 
conditions, yet have produced a good per cent of strong 
chicks at the end of twenty-one days. 

The majority of successful incubator operators do not 
touch the eggs after placing them in the machines until the 
end of the third day when they are turned for the first time. 
After that they are turned regularly, morning and night 
until the eggs begin to pip, as it is called, or until the chicks 
first crack the shell. The instructions that the manufac- 



24 CHICKS 

turers send out with each machine should guide the new- 
operator, at least until such time as experience shall prove 
that different handling of the machine will produce better 
results under the particular conditions to which his incubator 
is subjected. This refers to matters of ventilation and 
moisture in particular. 

Taking Off a Hatch. 

It is unwise to make haste to remove the chicks from the 
incubator even after the hatch is completed. A good hatch 
is almost always finished at the end of the twenty-first day, 
and the trays, shells and unhatched eggs should be removed. 
The chicks may remain in the incubator twenty-four to 
thirty-six hours longer with advantage to themselves and 
convenience to the poultryman. To remove the chicks from 
an incubator in which the temperature is above one hun- 
dred to a brooder having a temperature of ninety-five, and in 
which there are likely to be currents of air, is to invite 
trouble from the very first. Even if the brooder tempera- 
ture is as high as that of the incubator from which the chicks 
are removed, the tempering off process cannot be as success- 
fully performed as in the incubator. 

When the trays are removed, the temperature can be 
gradually reduced to ninety or ninety-five degrees during the 
following thirty-six hours. The chicks may then be removed 
to the brooder with the least chance of loss from influences 
incident to the change, and they will be stronger and better 
chicks. For removing to the brooder, especially if it is 
necessary to carry them from one building to another, a 
basket lined with flannel is to be advised, and if the weather 
is severe, the basket should be wrapped with a bran sack 
for additional protection. 

There are various kinds of brooding apparatus in use, 
most of which give satisfaction if the care-taker under- 
stands his work and gives it the required attention. The 
principal requirements are: ability to furnish the proper 
degree of heat at all times, freedom from drafts under the 
hover and sufficient ventilation so that each chick will 
obtain plenty of fresh air in whatever part of the brooder he 
may be. Some poultrymen prefer pipe system brooders, 
that is, those heated by a system of pipes through which 



HATCHING AND REARING 



25 



liot water circulates, while some prefer the individual 
brooders made and advertised by incubator companies and 
heated by kerosene lamps and stoves. 

For the poultryman who has less than 500 chicks to rear 
in a season, the individual brooder equipment is less expen- 
sive and is usually satisfactory. Occasionally on large 
farms where the number of chicks produced annually runs 
into thousands, we find most of the brooding, especially 
of the young chicks, done in lamp brooders. 

Where to Place the Brooder. 

The use of the pipe system requires a well built house 



^^^^^^tt®fe-.k:?l ; -. ' ' ~ :{ ':: ':■"" ' '■"'•.?' fA'f^H 






-■■■^-'^EK^iiili^l^i 




y^s^^sssM 


SHBU| 
flH§ffl 


■HHHhI 


WWW'W*W-' Wi :r till 


. ijtl 


liiilf 




ill" lift 


iflifilllp. 


: ' ' '" ' ■■;;. -^ . ... 

- 





Interior of a Brooding House, Showing the Pipes Which Heat the 

Hovers and Also the Four-Inch Cast Iron Pipes Which 

Warm the House. 



but when individual brooders are used, a shed is frequently 
sufficient to protect them except in extremely cold weather 
and it is not impossible to operate out-door brooders during 
the severest winter weather without any protection what- 
ever, though such a practice is not advised. An out-door 
brooder placed in a shed which is provided with a curtain 
front to be let down in stormy weather can be used suc- 
cessfully in the winter months, if the heat capacity is suf- 
ficient, and the chicks will derive much benefit from the 
pure air received. In-door brooders, unless so constructed 



26 CHICKS 

that they will protect the chicks from the cold when they 
are outside the hover, must be run in a well-built house 
until the moderate weather of the late spring arrives. It 
must be remembered that whatever building is used it 
must be well ventilated, because when there is foul air in 
the house the air is foul in the brooder. This condition 
is responsible for the death of more chicks than is improp- 
er feeding. 

Sunlight is of great importance and if the brooder can 
stand so that it will be reached by the sun's rays a few hours 
each day, that will do much to assist you to raise healthy 
chicks and if the hover is removed so that the sun can 
shine directly upon the brooding floor, it will do much to 
purify the machine. 

If the brooder has been used before, even though nearly 
a year has passed since it was last occupied, it should be 
completely cleaned and the brooding apartment washed 
throughout with soap and hot water in which is mixed a 
little carbolic acid. This will thoroughly disinfect it and 
the chicks will not be in danger of being attacked by germs 
that may have been left by the last brood occupying the 
machine. 

The best material for bedding the brooder is fine sand 
for it not only provides good footing for the chicks but also 
furnishes considerable grit. Some poult rymen prefer to use 
dry bran and some use hay chaff. The writer has used 
both and considers them good, but prefers the dry, fine sand. 

The temperature should be fairly stationary at ninety 
degrees for twenty-four hours before the chicks are put in, 
in order that the machine may be thoroughly warmed and 
dried. When the chicks are put in, the temperature will 
rise to from ninety-two to ninety-five degrees. 

Fifty Chicks to a Brooder. 

Not more^than fifty chicks should be placed in each 
brooder, or in each apartment of a pipe system apparatus, 
no matter how large the brooder or apparatus may be. 
More than fifty chicks are always likely to crowd and do 
themselves damage in other ways. Some of the most suc- 
cessful poultrymen seldom put over forty chicks in one 



HATCHING AND REARING 27 

flock, and others assert that better results are obtained 
when not more than thirty occupy one brooder. 
The First Food. 
We usually place the chicks in the brooder in the after- 
noon or evening and confine them pretty close to the hover 
until the next forenoon, when we offer the first food. The 
prepared chick foods, manufactured especially for the pur- 
pose and advertised in poultry journals, are convenient and 
satisfactory to feed from the very first. These foods con- 




interior of a Brooding House Equipped With What is Known as a 

"Box" Hover. This Hover is Open Only at the Front, Into 

the Pens, and is Heated by Hot Water Pipes. 

sist principally of finely cracked grains with a little grit, 
some charcoal and some beef-scraps added. They may be 
fed in a litter of hay chaff or some such material, or, if 
the chicks have sufficient range, it is often satisfactory 
to feed them in hoppers from the start. Usually, however, 
it is better to scatter the food so that the chicks can ex- 
ercise in finding it. Fine grit should also be scattered about 
the brooder, outside the hover, with the chick food. Fresh 
water should be constantl} 7 within reach. Sweet milk is an 



28 



CHICKS 



excellent food for young chicks, but will not take the place 
of water which must also be supplied. 

Although the temperature under the hover should be 92 
to 95 degrees the first few days, it is not advisable to keep 
it so warm after the third day. Ninety degrees is sufficient 
for the youngsters until they are ten days old, after which 
the temperature should be gradually reduced until it is 
eighty-five at the end of the second week and not over eighty 
at the end of the third week. On the matter of heat, 
well-known authorities differ considerably. Some claim 
that eighty degrees is sufficient any time after the chicks are 
four or five days old while others claim to have better results 
when a heat of ninety or more is maintained until the end 
of the third week. Our experience has indicated that strong, 
healthy chicks which have plenty of pure air to breath do 
not require a high temperature after the first ten days. 
Chicks kept in a brooder which is poorly ventilated or which 
is operated in a building which has not adequate ventila- 
tion will crowd toward the warm corners of a brooder when 
the temperature is ninety, more than will a flock which has 
plenty of pure life-giving air to breath in a temperature of 
eighty degrees. 

The little chicks need plenty of room in which to exercise, 




A Coop Eight Feet Long and Four Feet Wide in Which an Indoor 
Brooder is Operated. 



HATCHING AND REARING 



29 




An Outdoor Brooder in Which Chicks May be Reared in Warm or 
Cold Weather. 

but when they are only a day or two old, they should not be 
allowed to run far enough from the brooder so that they 
will not return when in need of warmth. If the brooder 
has a liberal floor space outside of the hover, they may be 
confined to the machine for the first three or four days and for 
a longer time if the air surrounding the machine is very cold. 

After the first of May, the temperature is not likely to 
be too cold for the chicks outside and they should be induced 
to take exercise in the open air. The youngsters must 
be taught to return to their hover, a lesson which sometimes 
takes them some time to learn and taxes the patience of 
their care-taker. But by allowing them to have a little 
more range each day and driving them back to the hover 
occasionally, they soon learn where they should go when 
chilly or in need of rest. 

When the chicks are brooded in a building, it is not often 
advisable to let them outside of the building before they are^ 
a week old, but doors and windows should be opened so 
that the air within will be perfectly pure. After they are 
a week old they may be allowed to run outside in a gradual- 
ly increased inclosure. A yard ten by forty feet should 



30 CHICKS 

prove sufficient for a flock of forty" to fifty chicks until they 
are six weeks old. 

Green Grass an Advantage. 

Chicks should always have a grass run because the grass 
is needed to furnish green food for the chicks and because the 
roots in the sod absorb many of the impurities and tend to 
keep the runway from becoming foul. Frequent raking 
and occasional watering in dry seasons will assist in keeping 
grass in the runs, and such labor is usually paid for with 
interest by the increased vigor and growth of the chicks. 

Dry Food Fed in Hoppers. 

If each brood has the room we have described, they may 
be given dry food in hoppers and the labor of feeding is 
reduced to the minimum. For this purpose, the advertised 
chick foods are especially adapted. The writer has had suc- 
cess when feeding these foods in hoppers of different styles, 
filling the hoppers perhaps twice a week and furnishing 
fresh water twice a day. With one brood in particular 
which was placed in a brooder in a colony house, the brooder 
was attended but twice a day, morning and evening, at 
which times the water pan was refilled, the lamp attended 
to and the brooder cleaned. This was in June and when the 
chicks were four days old, they were allowed to run outside 
the house in a small yard. The youngsters made excellent 
growth and the mortality was very low. 

Damp Mashes Occasionally Advisable. 

Less than twenty per cent as much damp mash is fed to 
chicks at present as was fed five years ago. Still, occasion- 
ally breeders find it satisfactory, and a few deem it necessary 
to get the best and fastest growth and most uniform devel- 
opment. A large proportion of these poultrymen do not, 
however, feed mash until the chicks are weaned by the hen 
or until they no longer need artificial heat. 

Mashes mixed with milk or water may be fed even when 
hopper feeding of dry food is practiced and oftentimes 
will produce better results than can be obtained otherwise. 

The prepared chick foods, composed -of small grain 
and finely cracked larger grains with beef scraps added, 
although most satisfactory for feeding young chicks, are 



HATCHING AND REARING 31 

not as a rule intended to be fed to growing chicks that have 
reached an age of a month or more. When the chicks are 
four weeks old whole wheat and cracked corn may be substi- 
tuted for part of the chick food furnished and the propor- 
tion gradually increased until the chick food is entirely 
dispensed with at the end of six weeks. This, of course, 
does not refer to the various foods prepared and sold es- 
pecially for feeding growing chicks. Many of these are 
well-balanced rations and are convenient and economical 
to feed. Where these cannot be conveniently obtained, 
cracked corn, whole wheat, beef scraps and charcoal will 
make a satisfactory combination for chicks that are on free 
range where they can obtain grit, green food, bugs, worms, 
etc., and will produce vigorous, healthy growth until the 
chicks go into winter quarters. 

For chicks that are confined in yards a more varied ration 
is necessary. To the cracked corn and wheat may be 
added hulled oats and grit; beef scraps and charcoal may 
be fed in separate hoppers or if mash is added, whether dry 
or damp, the beef scraps may be mixed with that to make 
eight per cent of the mixture by bulk. The other parts 
of the mash may be cornmeal, ground oats and bran in pro- 
portion of one part cornmeal, one part ground oats and two 
parts wheat bran. If this is fed damp it should be mixed 
with milk, whole or skim, if it can be obtained at reasonable 
cost. 

Free Range for Future Breeders. 

Some of the best and strongest chicks that appear in the 
fall and winter shows are raised in very limited quarters, 
but good growth and proper development in such quarters 
are obtained only by those who thoroughly understand the 
business and who attend very carefully to the work. 

Five-hundred chicks properly cooped on free range may 
be as easily cared for as one tenth that number confined 
in small yards and usually the former will make faster and 
more satisfactory growth. The yarded chicks must not 
only be provided with a variety of food which must include 
plenty of green food, preferably short, tender lawn grass, 
but they must have artificial protection from the heat of the 
sun and from danger of poisoning from the infected ground. 



32 CHICKS 

Hopper feeding is seldom successful when chicks are with- 
out range though it may be used with advantage where free 
range is enjoyed. The free range chick needs no mash 
food unless it is necessary to force a more rapid growth 
than is usually desirable. The component parts of the 
mash may be mixed dry and placed in hoppers, one hopper 
near each coop. Another hopper at each coop should con- 
tain a mixture of dry grains including cracked corn, wheat 
and oats, or, it may be divided in sections and each variety 
of grain placed in a section by itself. Another hopper 
or box should contain charcoal, which is one of the best and 
cheapest preventives of digestive disturbances. This 
may seem to some to be considerable equipment for each 
brood of chicks, but when you have added the water foun- 
tain and located it in a satisfactory place, you are enabled 
to care for your flock by visiting the coop twice a day. In 
the morning the chicks may be let out and fresh water fur- 
nished. In the evening, after nightfall, the caretaker 
should make the rounds of the coops and close them for the 
night. This latter proceeding may be dispensed with if 
there is no danger from hostile animals. 

The hoppers may be refilled as often as the supply is 
nearly exhausted, but they should be of sufficient size that 
not more than two fillings per week will be required. The 
coops should be cleaned twice a week and fresh sand or loam 
placed upon the floors. Floors may be dispensed with in 
case the coops are on high ground, dry land, and there is 
no likelihood of marauding animals digging under the coops 
and attacking the occupants. 

This is the sum total of the work required to care for the 
chicks, unless the presence of lice makes it necessary to paint 
the interior of the coop with lice killer occasionally. Ver- 
min seldom get a foothold on birds that have free range 
and were properly cared for and free from lice before they 
were weaned. 

A Satisfactory Colony Coop. 

A coop for fifty chicks should be six feet long and four 
feet, wide, four feet high in front and two and a half feet at 
the rear. It may be built with or without a floor, accord- 
ing to the requirements. The entire front may be of wire 



HATCHING AND REARING 



33 



or slats, part of which should be cleated and hinged to serve 
as a door. To keep out heavy winds and rain a curtain 
of burlap or light cotton cloth may be arranged to be but- 
toned to the front of this coop or rolled and fastened at the 
top to be let down in severe weather. During the heat of 
the summer season even such light protection occasionally 
makes the interior of the coop too warm and a protection 
built of boards about six by five feet in size may be laid 
against the front with its base a foot or more away from the 
base of the coop. This may be fastened to the coop proper 




A Colony Coop With Open Front and With a Hood to Protect the 
Interior From Sun and Rain. 

with hooks and lets in plenty of air while cutting off hard 
winds and driving rain. No roosts are required in these 
coops until the chicks are two-thirds grown, when pieces 
of two-by-three laid flat-wise with the two upper edges 
rounded may be placed two in each coop. These should be 
made to fit closely between the ends of the structure and can 
be supported by cleats nailed to the ends of the coop, eighteen 
inches above the floor. The chicks will prosper in such 
coops until cold weather compels their owner to transfer 
them to winter quarters. 



ARTIFICIAL HATCHING AND REARING, 



Imitate Nature's Method — Both Eggs and Machine Should 

Be Aired — The Value of Sunlight — First Days in the 

Brooder — Feed Dry Food in Litter. 



By Anna L. Pinkerton. 

Having in mind the many queries that are constantly be- 
ing put to me by beginners in the poultry business, I fancy 
that a few words of advice to the amateur would not come 
amiss and all my remarks apply to the different high grade 
machines now upon the market with which I am familiar. 

Leaving technical terms and statistics alone I will at once 
come to the point with advising the intending user of an 
incubator to first of all take into consideration his sur- 
roundings and climatic conditions, before setting the ma- 
chine, conditions being so different in various parts of the 
country that it is impossible to make rules that would ap- 
ply everywhere. 

Remember, always, the best criterion that can be taken 
is the hen; find out the methods under which she is success- 
ful and follow them as closely as possible when running 
your incubator. Her methods combined with your own 
ingenuity cannot fail to bring you success. 

Of course, everything depends upon the eggs and many 
an incubator has been condemned as useless on account 
of the infertility of the article to be hatched. It is a good 
thing to bear in mind that the incubator is only a medium 
which, with moderate attention, is bound to produce good 
results, and no workman, no matter how clever a mechanic 
he may be, can do good work with poor tools. 

While running an incubator it is as easy to be over anx- 
ious as to be careless and it will be well to bear in mind that 
it is a far more dangerous thing to let the temperature 
within the egg chamber get too hot than it is to let it get 



36 CHICKS 

too cold, as the one will destroy your hatch, while the other 
will, at the very worst, only delay it a day or so. 

Air Both Eggs and Incubator. 

Having secured the most fertile eggs that you can pro- 
cure and started your incubator for its three weeks' run, 
be sure not to let a day pass after the second day without 
taking the egg tray out of the machine and turning the eggs 
well, allowing them time in which to air and cool, at the 
same time leaving the doors of the incubator open to allow 
it also the benefit of a good airing. It is just as essential 
to air the incubator as it is to turn the eggs, it being one 
of Nature's laws that birds leave the nest in order to air 
themselves as well as the eggs, and it is obvious that the 
eggs should not be put back into an atmosphere that has 
the slightest impurity about it. My method of turning the 
eggs is by taking a few out at the center of the tray and 
shuffling the others with the hands in the same manner 
that a hen does with her beak and body. Keep away from 
mechanical movements or anything pertaining to mechan- 
ism as much as possible. Nature is erratic and while we 
are imitating Nature we must be erratic also. This has 
been my experience and I have carefully avoided anything 
mechanical in the hatching and raising of poultry. 

I have always had the greatest success with incubators 
when they have been set in a place that is partially below 
the ground and I advise setting the machine in a basement 
rather than upstairs, provided there is sufficient air in the 
basement for ventilation. 

Fresh Air and Sunlight Essential. 

Another important thing to remember is fresh air never 
injures anything; it is drafts that kill, and it is injurious 
to place your incubator in a draft. Fresh air and sunlight 
are as essential to health as they are useful for the destruc- 
tion of impurities and it is therefore necessary that the in- 
cubator room is well lighted and well aired. If your in- 
cubator has a glass door through which you can see the 
eggs do not fail to cover it during the weeks of incubation 
for the purpose of excluding the light. There are several 
reasons for this, the two most important being that Nature 



HATCHING AND REARING 37 

is directly opposed to light in the production of life, and 
that when the days for pipping arrive and the little chicks 
at the back of the incubator are leaving their shells they 
will naturally try to crawl over the pipped eggs in order 
to get to the light which they can see through the glass 
door. In doing this they will cover over the pipped eggs 
with the glutinous substance that is clinging to them which 
will seal the holes in the eggs and of course kill the little 
live fellows inside. If the interior of the incubator is dark 
this can never happen as the chicks will remain just where 
they are, when they leave the shell, until dry and can be 
taken out when the operator deems it advisable. 

My concluding suggestion is, follow the instructions that 
accompany the incubator as closely as possible as the peo- 
ple who make the machine should surely be the best judges 
of how it can be run most successfully. 

Why Women Succeed. 

The success of women in business undoubtedly has 
been due to the fact that they are more ready to attend to 
the minor details than men and this is especially true in 
the case of poultry raising. One seldom or never hears of 
women poultry fanciers failing and the explanation is very 
simple, nobody fails who attends to the details of his or 
her business. This is true in all cases, for those little 
details that some people are apt to treat as insignificant 
and beneath their notice are very often the undoing of 
what would otherwise be a successful enterprise. 

I feel confident that any woman with the most elemen- 
tary knowledge of business methods can make a success of 
raising poultry and I do not know of any business that can 
be started with as small a capital and show as good results 
in the same length of time. This introduction to my brood- 
ing article may seem somewhat out of place but I wish to 
impress upon my readers the importance of attending to 
little details. 

Here are a few things to always remember. Don't 
keep more than fifty young chicks together at any time; 
feed little and often; dirt always encourages disease; clean 



38 CHICKS 

water is as important as clean quarters; sunlight and fresh 
air are as necessary as food. 

The Secret of Success. 

The secret of success is undoubtedly strict attention to 
the instructions that accompany the brooder and constant 
care of the chicks for the first few weeks after they leave 
the incubator. I have never been in favor of anything too 
mechanical in connection with incubators and I am still 
more prejudiced against a too-mechanical use of the brood- 
er, for the more the operator has to attend to the little 
ones the stronger and healthier they will be and the smaller 
will be the death rate as a rule. Take your baby chicks 
from the incubator in the evening as they will then be 
undisturbed by the light and will sleep comfortably until 
the next morning. 

Do not be guided too much by the thermometer for the 
little fellows make pretty good thermometers themselves and 
there is not much fear of them becoming too hot if they can 
retreat to where the temperature is cooler than under the 
hover. Quite a good plan is to fasten up one of the woolen 
flaps of the hover for the first two or three days in order 
that the chicks may find their way in and out easily and to 
occasionally remove the hover entirely in order that fresh 
air may enter and more especially to see if there are any 
weak or lazy chicks behind. Many a stupid or weakly 
chick's life may be saved by helping it when it is not in- 
clined to help itself. 

Do not put the food (dry grains) into any kind of feed- 
ing device but scatter it in the litter upon the bottom of 
the brooder, or runway, in this way making them work for 
all they get. Exercise promotes health and cannot be 
commenced too soon. 

Always prevent the youngsters from crowding or hud- 
dling together. In a well constructed brooder they are not 
apt to do that but it is well to be sure that they don't, as 
it is bound to cause trouble and will result in the loss of 
some of your chicks. 

A Chill is Fatal. 

Be sure to take every precaution to prevent your chicks 



HATCHING AND REARING 



39 



from getting chilled as there is no chance for the life of 
a chilled chick. Although I am making it appear that there 
are no end of difficulties I do not wish to discourage any- 
one, but rather to start him on the right road. To show 
the other side of the picture I would like to say that last 
summer I took sixty baby chicks from Sedalia, Missouri, 
to Des Moines, Iowa, and from there to Lincoln, Nebraska, 
and then to Pueblo, Colorado, attending all the state fairs 
at these places, without losing one. These chicks traveled 
in all about 2,000 miles and spent several weeks in stuffy 
showrooms and with the exception of three are all living 
today. Of course, this could not have been done had I not 
exercised great care looking after them; at the same time 
it shows the hardiness of the youngsters. 

First Weeks the Important Time. 

The first few weeks is the most important time in the 
chickens' lives,, the time when their little onstitutions are 
being built up, as it were, and this is when they require 
your attention. When your hen was hatching her thirteen 
eggs you were always prepared for the loss of a few of the 
chicks; so now, when you are running an incubator and 
using a brooder, don't be surprised that a few of the chicks 
die, but just compare the number you lose now with the 
number you used to lose and see if your percentage of loss 
is not smaller since you adopted the modern method. I 
know it is in my own case and I know it will be in yours 
if you act upon these suggestions. 




HATCHING AND REARING ARTIFICIALLY. 

Operating the Incubator — Pedigreeing the Eggs and Marking 
the Chicks — Feeding and Caring for the Youngsters. 



By M. L. Spink. 

To obtain fine hatching eggs one must raise several 
generations of breeders which have shown perfect health 
from the eggs to the breeding pen. These eggs should be 
as nearly "new laid" as possible, and never over fourteen 
days old. 

We heat our machines for three days, running the 
lamps very low. When the temperature has registered 103 
degrees for twenty-four hours, the eggs are placed in the 
machines and left untouched for two days. After that, they 
are turned night and morning by rolling gently to the 
center of the tray, and we are careful to push the small 
ends of the eggs slightly down. The eighteenth day, at 
night, we sprinkle the eggs with water heated to 100 de- 
grees, place the pedigree trays in position and close the 
machines for good. The eggs usually begin hatching the 
twentieth morning and are all out about eight hours after- 
ward. 

Trap Nests Employed. 

We use trap nests and mark the hen's number on the 
egg she lays. Thus we can tell the hatching quality of 
each hen's eggs on the seventh and fourteenth days by test- 
ing. We keep a season's record of each bird's eggs and at 
any moment can remedy a fault caused by sterility or dead 
germs, and we can also record the number of healthy chicks 
from each bird in the breeding pens. 

The twenty-first day we remove the trays, punch tne 
webbs of the pedigreed chicks and leave all chicks in the 
incubator till the night of the twenty-second day. The 
brooders have been whitewashed and heated to ninety de- 
grees. We place fifty chicks in a brooder, never more. 






HATCHING AND REARING 



41 



By putting them under the hover at night you can control 
them the first twelve hours. The hover floor has a movable 
burlap cover,- sprinkled with baby chick grit. Their first 
day is spent making acquaintance with the warmed drink- 
ing water and gathering in a supply of grit. 

Feed Every Three Hours. 

When they are three days old we begin to feed stale 
bread crumbs soaked in skim milk and squeezed dry. This 
is scattered on a shingle. We remove hover top and feed 




Photograph Illustrating Exterior of the Brooder House Owned and 
Operated by M. L. Spink. 



every three hours allowing about ten minutes for meals. 
A box of charcoal and chick grit is also placed within reach. 
The fifth day we furnish only wheat flour moistened with 
water and made crumbly dry. A piece of sulphate of 
iron the size of a bean is put in the drinking water. This 
arrests any tendency to bowel trouble which usually appears 
from the fifth to the seventh day. The next day we return 
to the bread, morning and noon, and use chick feed in litter 
for the other meals. At night oatmeal flakes or cracked 
corn is fed in troughs made of lath. 

At this time they are using the exercise room of the 
brooder, the floor of which is covered with dry sand and 



42 CHICKS 

short cut alfalfa. We mix in the chick feed and it is great 
fun to see their efforts to scratch. Some topple over, but 
arise and go at it again. If you teach them the way up 
to the hover room the first few times, they are capable of 
keeping warm and happy. 

Hovers Discarded April First. 

After April first we discard the hover tops and use only 
the hover room. It prevents them from sweating during 
warm nights and gives us stronger chicks. The seventh 
day we begin to furnish them green feed, all the chopped 
onion or beet that they will eat. The eighth day beef scraps 
in a hopper is put before them. When the chicks are ten 
days old we open the brooder and teach them to use the 
house yard, taking care that they learn the way in. 

Three Meals a Day at Three Weeks. 

From then on they are quite self-reliant. At three 
weeks old the meals are cut down to three a day; the heat 
is down to seventy-five degrees, and they have been weaned 
from chick feed and are eating wheat, cracked corn and 
oatmeal. At six weeks of age the birds are placed in colony 
houses in cool brooders. They have practically free range 
and are fed by the hopper system, cracked corn, wheat, 
beef scraps, dry mash, charcoal and grit. One feed a day 
of whole oats and wheat, soaked, is fed at four P. M., in 
troughs. Fresh water is carried around each morning. 

We clean brooders daily, spray the colony houses once 
a_ week and scald the drinking fountains very often. Our 
birds grow like weeds and we never lose any young stock 
by sickness after it is six weeks of age. They began laying 
at five months and eight days this past year, on September 
seventh, and are still at it. They are bread-winners. 



REARING CHICKS IN BROODERS. 



A Plain Description of Proved Successful Methods of Brooding 

and Feeding — Dry Food Makes Healthy Chicks — Separate 

the Sexes — Causes of Bowel Trouble. 

By F. G. Thayer. 

The time has come when the hen in her small way is not 
capable of hatching and brooding the large number of chicks 
that our markets demand and artificial methods are a neces- 
sity. Natural conditions, however, must be followed as 
much as possible for best results. 

The rearing of chicks is the most difficult part of the 
poultry business. The poultryman's success depends largely 
upon his ability to increase the flock; if unable to do so he 
will be gradually forced out of the business. The first 
few week's life influences to a great extent the value of the 
future flock. In order to have good mature stock it is neces- 
sary that they get a good start. Therefore, your breeding 
fowls must be in prime of condition; they must be vigorous, 
healthy, mature and not forced for egg production during 
winter months. This kind of stock will give fertile eggs 
with strong germs which will produce vigorous, healthy 
chicks. 

Causes of Mortality. 

Some of the causes of mortality in rearing brooded chicks 
are lack of ventilation, overfeeding, too much or too little 
heat, lack of exercise, unsanitary conditions, feeding too 
soon after hatching, lack of vigor in the breeding stock and 
improper handling of the eggs before and during incubation. 
Much care is necessary to successfully raise chicks to matu- 
rity. Do not force them to leave the brooder too early, as 
it causes undersized, stunted chicks that may not feather 
properly. Ventilation is needed at all times and foul air 
should never be tolerated. It will cause sickness and loss 
of life. 



44 CHICKS 

The time for hatching and rearing of chicks for winter 
egg production varies according to the breeds used. The 
heavier breeds should be hatched by May 1st at the latest, 
and chicks of the Mediterranean class from May 1st to June 
1st. Stock so hatched will lay all winter if properly raised, 
matured, put into good winter quarters and given good care. 
Late hatched chicks are hard to rear, as they do not mature 
before cold weather sets in and then their growth is checked. 
They never make good breeders, as they are born weak and 
bowel complaints commence early. Late in the season the 
eggs are weak in fertility and therefore produce weaker 
chickens. Late hatched chickens are troubled more by 
lice and diseases and in consequence cost more to raise. 
Operating the Brooder. 

Before putting chickens into the brooder see that it is 
thoroughly disinfected and cleaned. Warm the brooder and 
see that it is at the proper temperature. This temperature 
should be 95 degrees when the chicks are introduced. Use 
nothing but the best oil, as it causes less irregularity in the 
flame and gives better all around satisfaction. The lamp 
should be filled twice daily. Be sure to keep the burner 
clean and bright; the wick tube should be kept free from 
accumulation of crusts. 

Trim the wicks twice daily by means of a nail which 
takes off the burnt material and makes a uniform surface. 

The temperature of the brooder should be 95 degrees 
when the chickens are first put in and gradually reduced 
to 90 degrees by the end of the first week; at the end of 
three weeks 85 degrees is sufficient. The first week is the 
most critical period of the life of the chicks. Trouble is 
most likely to be caused by chills and overfeeding. In or- 
der to have a good early pullet it is necessary that she get 
a good start. The first few weeks care is responsible to a 
great extent for her success or failure later on. 

Feed, regularity of feeding, cleanliness and plenty of 
grit and pure water are all important factors in the rearing 
of chickens. Chicks should be carefully protected from 
storms and sudden changes of weather, since these, together 
with low vitality of the parents, are responsible for more 
deaths than is improper food. Keep the chicks near 



REARING IN BROODERS 



45 



the hover the first day so that they will know where to go 
to get warm. 

In two days the chicks may be given the run of the brood- 
er and often can be let out into an outside run. Do not 
force them to leave the brooder too early as it causes under- 
sized, stunted and featherless chicks. 

Feeding the Little Ones. 
The mixture I prefer for the first feed is infertile eggs 




A Colony House Which May be Used to Accommodate an Indoor 

Brooder and Flock of Chicks in the Spring and be Used as 

Quarters for the Growing Chicks Later. 



chopped fine and mixed with five parts ofr oiled oats, with 
some green material chopped fine also added. This mix- 
ture is fed sparingly for the first few days and then fed 
more liberally. After a few days, cracked grains may be 
fed in the chaff where the youngsters must scratch to get 
it, thus obtaining exercise which develops their bodies, di- 
gests their food and wards off diseases, especially diar- 



46 CHICKS 

rhoea. Feed little and often and keep their appetites sharp. 
Keep them hungry; but judgment and practical experience 
will tell you how to keep them almost satisfied and still a 
little hungry. They should have access to green material 
at all times. At night their appetites should be completely 
satisfied and plenty of feed should therefore be given them. 

As they grow older they should be fed a less number 
of times daily and more at a time. The chopped eggs and 
rolled oats may be fed twice daily until they are three 
weeks old and then be displaced by a mixture of bran, mid- 
dlings, cornmeal, and meat scraps. This can be fed either 
dry or moist. They grow faster on the moist mash but are 
more liable to sickness. To make good breeding stock the 
chickens should never be forced at all as they do not then 
develop for the best results; one part is developed at the 
expense of another and that makes them of less value for 
breeding. 

Care of the Growing Chicks. 

When the chicks are between five and six weeks old 
whole grains can be substituted for the cracked grains and 
their use will cut down the expense. For best results the 
growing chicks should be fed sparingly in the morning, 
have either a dry or moist mash at noon and be fed all 
they will eat at night. The best green foods to be used 
are lettuce and cabbage and should be fed liberally. After 
the young ones are four weeks old meat meal should be 
before them at all times until meat scraps are substituted. 
They should be given free range as soon as possible as it 
promotes growth and health at a less expense than on re- 
stricted range. Feeding the chicks on dry feeds while 
young will lessen the mortality. They will not grow so 
fast but you will raise a larger per cent of your flock to 
maturity. 

Separate the Sexes. 

As soon as the sexes can be distinguished they should 
be separated and those of each sex kept by themselves. 
The surplus cockerels should be finished off for market and 
the pullets gradually fed to mature in time for winter lay- 
ing, but not forced in any way, as that causes weakness in 
constitution and poor fertility in the eggs in hatching sea- 



REARING IN BROODERS 47 

son. If the pullets show a tendency to lay before you want 
them to they should be fed a less stimulating ration so as 
to retard egg production. 

Causes of Bowel Trouble. 

This is caused by undigested food which acts as an 
irritant and diarrhoea results. Other causes are too little 
or too much heat; weak constitution; lack of exercise; im- 
pure air or lack of ventilation; careless feeding; impure 
drinking water; and unsanitary surroundings. Late hatch- 
ed chickens are more troubled with it than those of earlier 
hatches. Give them scalded milk and charcoal with a little 
grated nutmeg. 

If weak in their legs give them plenty of exercise and 
fresh air. This trouble is almost always caused by too 
heavy feeding or by too concentrated food given the young- 
sters when they do- not have sufficient chance to be active 
enough to enable their systems to handle it. Chicks on free 
range are seldom troubled in this way though occasionally 
some of the cockerels will be affected and then the condi- 
tion may be caused by overfeeding or by injuries to their 
backs received from larger and older males. 

Grade According to Size. 

If the growing chicks are confined in yards, even if the 
yards are large, they should be separated according to size 
so that the larger ones will not mistreat the little ones 
and thus check their growth and development. A half doz- 
en six or seven-pound cockerels will prevent three times 
as many smaller ones in the same pen from getting as 
much food as they need and from enjoying the freedom 
from annoyance that is necessary for proper development. 
This is not so necessary in the case of pullets, though when 
trough feeding is practiced the larger ones will always 
crowd out the smaller. 

By hopper feeding this difficulty is avoided, the big 
ones can go to the hopper and eat what they desire and 
go away, leaving a chance for the younger ones to satisfy 
their hunger without fear of being attacked. Hopper feed- 
ing also saves at least two-thirds the labor of caring for 
the flock. 



PORTABLE BROODER HOUSE. 

A Colony Coop, Costing Ten Dollars to Build, that Will Ao 

commodate a Brooder and Later Serve as 

a Roosting Coop. 



By Ellen A. Day. 

A brooder house combining all the good points a per- 
son might like is hard to build, unless one has plenty of 
money. For those needing accommodations for only a few 
hundred chicks small houses will answer the purpose, and 
fit a small purse as well. 

A structure four feet high in front, two feet high at 
the back, with the floor six by eight feet, makes a very 
convenient, portable brooder house. If set on runners it 
is very easy to move it from one place to another with a 
team. The roof is built in two sections, is removable, and 
is fastened down by large gate hooks when in place. It is 
a great convenience to have the roof off when cleaning the 
houses, especially when one wants to scrub them out in the 
spring and have them dry out quickly. 

The Brooder House as a Colony House. 

When one has finished using the brooders, they can be 
removed, leaving the chicks in the house. As the roof is 
low, there should not be many chicks left in each house 
during hot weather. Doors and windows should have 
screens fitted in to keep animals out when the doors and 
windows are left open to admit air. The low houses are 
much warmer in early spring for the baby chicks. Later 
on a higher house is much better. 

A building, as here described, will cost about ten dol- 
lars for material, including window sash for light and roof- 
ing paper to cover the roof. Prices will vary in different 
locations but in building several houses I think they will 
average about that price. 



PORTABLE BROODER HOUSE 



49 



In our second year using these houses, we cut out the 
space between door and window and cleated the boards so 
we could set them back in place when we wished to, in 
case of storm or cold weather. At other' times we had a 
frame covered with cloth to set in the space. One needs 
to watch the temperature same as in an outdoor brooder; 
the houses get very warm when in the sun and closed up 
tight. We keep doors and windows open most of the time. 

This matter of overheating the chicks is often the cause 
of a lack of thrift and vigor in flocks that are well fed and 
otherwise well cared for. Often the brooder houses or 




Some of the Portable Brooder Houses Described by Ellen A. Day. 



roosting coops are closed up so tightly at night that the air 
becomes very foul inside and before morning the tempera- 
ture is very high. This not only causes weak chickens but 
actually causes suffering among them. Our method of fit- 
ting screens to the windows and doors enables us to keep 
the house well open all night so that the chicks obtain 
plenty of air and at the same time are protected from dan- 
ger. 

Brooder House on Runners. 

If the runners are used, they may be made a part of 
the sills, or the longitudinal sills (those at the front and 
back) may be made of two-inch planks eight inches wide, 



50 



CHICKS 



set on edge and allowed to project a few inches at one 
end. These projecting ends should be rounded up to serve 
as runners and a cross-piece nailed on from the end of one 
to the end of the other to which a whiffletree may be at- 
tached when it is desired to move the house from one lo- 
cation to another. In this case the transverse sills (those 
across the ends of the house) should not be more than 
four inches wide and set on edge between the wider ones 
making the tops of all sills level. This will make a space 
of four inches between the transverse sills and the ground 
so that they will not be in the way when moving the house. 







1 


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m - HHhh 

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A Colony House in Which the Window is Hung on Hinges to Serve as 
a Door. This Building May Serve as a Brooder House, as 
Quarters for Growing Chicks or as a House for 
a Laying or Breeding Pen. 



INCUBATING, BROODING AND FEEDING. 



Five Well=Known, Successful Poultrymen Tell the Readers 
of this Book Where and How They Operate Their Incu= 
bators and Brooders and How They Care for 
and Feed the Future Profit Winners. 



Question. In what kind of room do you operate your 
incubator? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: In the cellar of my house. 
Mr. Dodge: We operate our incubators in a cellar built 
for the purpose, four and one-half feet below ground and two 
feet above, covered with a peak roof, the whole covered 
with two feet of earth. Mr. Ring: In a cellar constructed 
for the purpose, having cement floor and brick walls. Mr. 
Langworthy: One in an unused room in my house and 
another in the dining room. Mr. Lackore: In an empty 
room without heat, in my dwelling. 

Question. How is the room ventilated? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: By a bulkhead and three 
windows. Mr. Dodge: By three ventilators each twelve- 
inches square, extending through the peak of the roof and 
by two 3-light sash in the gable at each end of the roof, 
hinged at the bottom to swing in, also by opening the door. 
Mr. Ring: By four windows, each one by two feet, five 
feet above the floor. Mr. Langworthy: By doors and win- 
dows. Mr. Lackore: By opening the top sash in the win- 
dows. 

Question. Do you prefer any other location and why? 
Answers. Mr. Duston : Would prefer a well ventilated 
room above ground in which a fairly even temperature 
could be maintained. Mr. Dodge: If I build another incu- 
bator house I shall make it of hollow cement blocks, and have 
it entirely above ground to insure absolute dryness and perfect 
ventilation. Mr. Ring: No. Mr. Langworthy: Yes, a 
well lighted and ventilated cellar, because the temperature 



52 CHICKS 

is more even there. Mr. Lackore: Yes, an especially 
constructed incubator cellar four feet in the ground with 
plenty of windows in the south wall and well ventilated. 

Question. What temperature do you maintain in the 
incubator during the three weeks? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: 103 degrees, but allow it to 
run to 105 when the chicks are coming out. Mr. Dodge: 
First week, 1023^>, then 103 until the chicks begin hatching, 
when it will rise to 105. Mr. Ring: 102 to 103 degrees. 
Mr. Langworthy: First week 1023/2, second week, 103, third 
week, 103 to 104. Mr. Lackore: First week, 102, second 
week, 103, third week, 103 to 104. 

Question. Do you supply moisture in the egg chamber? 
Answers. Mr. Duston: No, have not found it necessary. 
Mr. Dodge: Our incubators are the non-moisture, self- 
ventilating kind, and after five years of use we find them so 
in every particular. Mr. Ring: No. Mr. Langworthy: 
No. Mr. Lackore: No. 

Question. What are the principal reasons why chicks 
do not always come out promptly on the twenty-first day? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: Weak germs, low temperature 
and too much airing of the eggs. Mr. Dodge: Low tem- 
perature, sometimes due to incorrect thermometer, excessive 
cooling, varying temperature in the egg chamber, low de- 
gree of fertility in the eggs and insufficient ventilation. 
Mr. Ring : Lack of vitality of germ, drop in temperature dur- 
ing incubation, eggs chilled while being aired. Mr. Lang- 
worthy : Running the incubator at too low average tempera- 
ture. Mr. Lackore: Too low temperature during the hatch. 

Question. How long do you keep the chicks in the in- 
cubator after the hatch is completed? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: Chicks are always taken from 
the machine on the morning of the 22nd day. Mr. Dodge: 
About twelve hours. Mr. Ring: Twenty-four hours. Mr. 
Langworthy: Twenty-four hours. Mr. Lackore: Twenty- 
four hours. 

Question. How do you handle the incubator from the 
time the hatch is complete until you remove the chicks to 
the brooder? 

Answers. Mr. Dodge : Do not touch the incubators until 



INCUBATING, BROODING, FEEDING 53 

I open them to remove the chicks except when there is an 
extra big hatch, when I open the door a quarter of an inch 
and fasten it there after the chicks are all hatched and 
dried. Mr. Ring: Turn down the flame and gradually 
reduce temperature. Mr. Langworthy: I remove the trays 
with the shells and unhatched eggs, and leave the regulator 
and lamp as they were at hatching time. Mr. Lackore: I 
remove the egg trays and keep the temperature at 100 de- 
grees. 

Question. What are your reasons for doing as stated 
above? 

Answers. Mr. Ring: To avoid subjecting the chicks to 
too great a change of temperature when removing them 
from incubator to brooder and to lessen the chance of chil- 
ling them in their removal. Mr. Langworthy: Taking out 
the trays gives the chicks more room and gives a chance to 
put in a little grit and water a short time before taking out 
the chicks, Mr. Lackore: The chicks are less likely to take 
cold if ^perfectly dried and are stronger and better able to 
stand the changes in temperature which follow their removal. 
The chicks can be accustomed to a lower temperature 
more gradually and more easily in the incubator than any- 
where else. 

Question. Describe the way you move the chicks to the 
brooder. 

Answers. Mr. Duston: In a basket lined with cloth in 
which they are carefully covered during the removal. Mr. 
Dodge: In cold weather we move them in a market basket 
covering them well with a flannel blanket, but in summer 
they do not need to be so carefully covered, in fact last sea- 
son we moved 1,800 chicks in an iron coal bucket. Mr. Ring: 
I put a couple of heated bricks covered with burlap in the 
bottom of a galvanized iron basket and cover them with an- 
other layer of burlap. Mr. Langworthy: We put a warm 
cloth in a basket or box, place the chicks upon it and fold 
one end of the cloth over them. Mr. Lackore: I line a box 
or basket with a warm flannel cloth, put in the chicks and 
cover them with another warm cloth. 

Operating the Brooder. 

Question. Do you use indoor or outdoor brooders? 



54 



CHICKS 



Answers. Mr. Duston: I use nothing but outdoor 
brooders because I can utilize them indoors as well. Mr. 
Dodge: We have a large brooder house, capacity 1,000 
chicks, heated by hot water and regulated by electricity, 
which we prefer to indoor or outdoor brooders because it 
is cheaper to operate and gives the chicks more room under 
cover in stormy weather. Mr. Ring: Outdoor, so that the 
chicks can be placed where they can get fresh grass and 
clover as early as possible. Mr. Langworthy: Inside 
brooders, because they are more comfortable to take care 




An Outdoor Brooder and Brood. 



of in bad weather and the protecting house affords the chicks 
a place to exercise. Mr. Lackore: Indoor brooders in 
colony houses because they burn less oil and when the 
chicks leave the brooder they can remain in the colony 
house. 

Question. How warm do you have the brooders when 
the chicks are put in? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: 100 degrees. Mr. Dodge: About 
90. Mr. Ring: 90 degrees. Mr. Langworthy: 90 degrees. 
Mr. Lackore: 98 degrees. 



INCUBATING, BROODING, FEEDING 



55 



Question. Describe how you handle the chicks during 
the first 24 hours in the brooder. 

Answers. Mr. Duston: I do nothing but keep them 
warm, give a little water with the chill taken off and a little 
rolled oats scattered before them. Mr. Dodge: I scatter 
fine chaff all over the brooder floor, keep the chicks under the 
hover most of the time, teaching them to seek the warmth 
whenever they are cold, never allowing them to go far from 
the hover and giving no food for 36 hours. Mr. Ring: I 
scatter fine grit in litter and gradually reduce the temperature 









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A Colony House for Growing Chicks Which Was Constructed Prin- 
cipally From Odds and Ends of Lumber. 



to 85 degrees. Mr. Langworthy: Keep the temperature 
about 90 degrees and feed a good prepared chick food and 
lots of grit and fresh water. Mr. Lackore: I feed them as 
soon as I put them in, give them some water with the chill 
taken off, and see that they go under the hover when they 
are cold. 

The Temperature of the Brooder. 
Question. What temperature do you maintain in the 



56 CHICKS 

brooder during the first week, the second week, third week, 
fourth week and thereafter? 

Answers. Mr. Duston : 90 to 100 the first week, 85 to 90 
the second, about 80 the third and 70 to 80 thereafter. Mr. 
Dodge: 90 degrees the first week with plenty of ventilation, 
85 the second and third weeks and 75 to 80 thereafter. Mr. 
Ring: 85 the first week, 80 the second and third weeks, 75 
the fourth and 70 thereafter. Mr. Langworthy: 90 degrees 
the first week, 85 the second, 75 to 80 the third, 75 the 
fourth and after that warm enough so that they appear 
comfortable. Mr. Lackore : 95 the first week, 90 the second, 
85 the third, 80 the fourth and 70 thereafter. 

Question. With what material do you cover the floors 
of the brooders? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: Sand because it is clean and 
easily renewed. Mr. Dodge: Fine chaff with all the long 
pieces sifted out, because it makes good scratching material, 
and absorbs all moisture. Mr. Ring: Clover chaff, to keep 
the floors clean and for chicks to scratch in for their food. 
Mr. Langworthy: Clover leaves from the hay barn, because 
I have it, don't have to buy it, because it is all right. Mr. 
Lackore: Clover chaff which furnishes considerable food 
for the chicks and is an excellent scratching litter. 

Question. How often do you clean the brooders thor- 
oughly and how? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: Once a week by removing all 
material. Mr. Dodge: Once a week the brooders are scrub- 
bed with soap and water and twice a week the litter is re- 
moved and fresh put in. Mr. Ring: Every three or four 
days by removing all litter and replacing it with clean chaff. 
Mr. Langworthy: Twice a week by scraping out the litter 
and washing the brooder with hot water containing some 
good disinfectant. Mr. Lackore: Every other day I clean 
them thoroughly, scraping the floor with a piece of glass. 

Question. How do you disinfect or purify the brooders? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: By thorough white-washing be- 
tween hatches and the use of a good disinfectant in water 
to disinfect the floors. Mr. Dodge: By the use of plenty of 
soap and hot water, disinfectants are apt to smother the 
chicks. Mr. Ring: By keeping them always clean and 



INCUBATING, BROODING, FEEDING 57 

spraying them with lice paint after each brood is removed, 
giving time for the fumes to disappear before placing more 
chicks in the brooders. Mr. Langworthy: By the use of 
the hot water and disinfectant mentioned above. Mr. 
Lackore: Open the brooders and let in the sun which is the 
best purifier. 

Feeding the Chicks. 

Question. How soon after the chicks are placed in the 
brooder do you give them the first food? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: They have rolled oats as soon as 
they will pick them up, or about as soon as they are placed 
in the brooder. Mr. Dodge : From 24 to 36 hours depending 
upon what hour of the day they were hatched. Mr. Ring: 
Forty-eight hours. Mr. Langworthy: I give them a little 
as soon as they are placed in the brooder. Mr. Lackore: 
♦Immediately. 

Question. What do you feed the chicks during the first, 
second, third and fourth week, and after the fourth week? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: During the first four weeks, 
rolled oatSj a prepared chick food and occasionally apples and 
some cut clover, after the fourth week, hard grains. Mr. 
Dodge: We feed nothing but prepared chick food during 
the first four weeks, but add a little cooked beef after the 
first week. Mr. Ring: We feed the first week steel cut oats, 
milk, grit, charcoal and beef scraps, the second and third 
weeks a prepared chick food is added, the fourth we also 
feed ground oats and cracked wheat and after that time, 
add whole wheat and when large enough whole oats and 
a mash of cornmeal and bran mixed with milk. Mr. Lang- 
worthy: We feed prepared chick food about four weeks and 
then add cracked wheat and corn, gradually reducing the 
chick food until it is left out entirely. Mr. Lackore: The 
first and second weeks, prepared chick food, third and 
fourth weeks, chick food and beef scraps, after the fourth 
week wheat, kaffir corn, cracked corn, oats and barley, with 
plenty of grit and charcoal constantly before them. 

Question. How many little chicks do you put in one 
flock? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: Never over fifty. Mr. Dodge: 
About fifty, never more. Mr. Ring: Forty to fifty. Mr. 



58 CHICKS 

Langworthy: About fifty. Mr. Lackore: Not over one 
hundred, seventy-five' is better. 

Question. How much run do you give them the first 
week? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: A space about four by five feet 
in front of the brooder and no more until they are accus- 
tomed to finding their way back to the hover. Mr. Dodge: 
A pen five by ten feet indoors and a yard five by forty out- 
doors. Mr. Ring: In cold weather they are confined in the 
brooder; in warm weather they have a covered run three 
by twelve feet. Mr. Langworthy: In cold weather we keep 
them in the brooder. Mr. Lackore: A room eight by eight 
feet. 

Question. How much run do you give them the second, 
third and fourth weeks, and after the fourth week? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: They are allowed a pen ten by 
twelve feet the second week, and the whole of an enclosed 
run during the next two weeks and unlimited range there- 
after. Mr. Dodge: We give them the same room as during 
the first week until they are placed in colony houses and 
have free range. Mr. Ring: The same area as the first 
week until the fourth when it is increased to a space ten by 
ten feet and after the fourth week they have free range. 
Mr. Langworthy: The second week a small inclosure in 
front of the brooder, the third, a room ten by ten feet, the 
fourth, an outside run ten by twenty-five feet, after the 
fourth, free range. Mr. Lackore: The same as the first 
week until after the fourth week when they have free range. 
What is One Man's Work? 

Question. How many chicks can one man hatch and 
rear with incubators and brooders in one season, hatching 
during March, April and May, doing all the work him- 
self? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: Do not like to state definitely, 
know one party who raised a thousand chicks for me and 
the same number for himself besides caring for a flock of 
a thousand hens, but he was not afraid of work and did 
not go visiting to any great extent. Mr. Dodge: With 
proper equipment, about five thousand, devoting his entire 
time to the work. Mr. Ring: Give it up. I raise from a 



INCUBATING, BROODING, FEEDING 59 

thousand to twelve hundred chicks each year, but have 
assistance. Mr. Langworthy: That depends on the man 
and the equipment. Mr. Lackore: Two thousand. 

Cost of a Four Months' Old Chick. 

Question. Figuring eggs at market prices, what- is the 
cost, including labor, of producing a four months' old chick 
by your method? 

Answers. Mr. Duston: Really I cannot tell, it did cost 
me from nine to eleven cents a pound to produce a roaster, 
not including fuel, but as I raise stock for breeding pur- 
poses now, I have not made a careful estimate recently. Mr. 
Dodge: As we do not raise chicks for market, we cannot 
say what the cost would be, but it costs us $1.00 to hatch, 
raise and keep a Leghorn one year. Mr. Ring: I have 
no figures to show accurately the cost to this age, my expense 
for labor is distributed over the entire plant and food, fuel, 
etc., is charged as a whole to the total number raised to 
maturity. Mr. Langworthy: Can't tell, we begin selling 
chicks at one or two weeks old and sell from our flock all 
the time so that I am unable to tell the cost of producing 
a four months' specimen. Mr. Lackore: About eighteen 
cents. 



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HATCHING AND REARING WITH HENS. 



The Writer Firmly Believes in the Natural Methods of Hatch* 

ing and Rearing Exhibition and Breeding Stock and 

Tells How the Work Should be Done, from Making 

the Nest to Separating the Weaned Chicks. 

By A. C. Smith. 

The art of raising chickens by hens, never well understood, 
is being fast lost sight of. It is the old method. The few of 
us who still cling to and advocate the natural method of 
hatching and rearing are classed as "ultra conservatives" and 
"has beens," etc. Still I believe in the old hen, and to my 
mind for the production of nice show specimens of good, hardy 
breeding stock, she will, nine times out of ten, discount any 
brooder that was ever built in the hands of ninety-nine out 
of a hundred men. 

The hen is pretty cheap labor and her life services and 
carcass thrown in can be had for from fifty cents to one 
dollar and board. She is always on hand, never sleeps 
through any kind of a calamity, regulates the warmth of the 
chicks better than any device of man ever has or ever can; 
is sure to insist on sufficient exercise and when marauders 
threaten her flock can appear to be the maddest thing on 
earth, not excepting the proverbial hornet. 

This setting hen is complained of as a common nuisance 
because she will break the eggs, crush the life out of young 
chicks, will transfer lice from her body to the young, and 
last, and perhaps the most serious complaint of all, she will 
lead her youngsters off early in the morning into the wet 
grass where they become drenched and chilled only to finally 
droop and die. 

All these are just complaints, perhaps, but if one one- 
hundredth part of the thought and one-one thousandth 
part of the expense that has been expended in perfecting 
artificial chicken raisers had been applied to the question 



62 CHICKS 

of controlling the natural chicken raiser, these faults would 
long ago have been overcome. Mother hens do certainly 
break eggs, even tear nests asunder and bury eggs; they 
crush young chicks and they lead them into too wet grass 
fields — but why let them? The trouble is not with the hen, 
it is with the conditions and surroundings. 

The Hen is Satisfactory if Properly Handled. 

I once heard a discussion between the agent of an incuba- 
tor concern and a fancier, who, like myself, is a hard, old- 
fashioned advocate of the hen as God made her. The latter 
finally remarked that there was no difficulty in getting good 
hatches and raising a large percentage of the chicks if the 
man who set the hen knew as much as the hen. To my 
mind this comprises the length, the breadth and the depth of 
the situation as it exists today and as it always existed. 
Incubators are nothing new, nor are hens. They had both 
before Pharaoh's time. The hen was the nearest to perfec- 
tion then and is yet. 

This does not mean that there is no use for the incubator 
and brooder. These machines not only assist the poultry 
business, but they actually make some branches. Anyone 
embarking in the business upon a commercial basis must 
use these machines, but to my mind such an enterprise would 
be better if the breeding stock was raised by the natural 
method. To those who are engaged in raising fancy poultry, 
I unreservedly recommend the hen as we knew her yesterday 
and know her today. 

If we are to use hens, how are we to use them so that they 
will not break eggs and kill chicks in one way or another? 
I am glad to briefly outline the method that we have prac- 
ticed for the past few years an dwhich has averaged us nearly 
eight good, strong, healthy, sure-to-live chicks out of every 
thirteen eggs. 

There is a great deal in selecting the proper kind of a hen; 
an ideal hen for a mother will be of a quiet disposition and 
weigh from five to six pounds. These are taken from the 
nests in which they have thoroughly developed the pro- 
pensity to sit, and placed in nests of special design. 
Making the Nests. 

These nests are made in sets of four. Each nest is 



HATCHING WITH HENS 63 

fourteen inches square, inside measurement, and about 
eight high. It has no bottom except the earth on the floor 
of the pen in which it is placed. The front consists of a two- 
inch strip at the bottom and a board eight inches wide 
hung on hinges. This arrangement makes it possible to 
fasten the hens on. When there is a sand or board floor, 
three inches of moist loam should be spread on the floor 
and this set of nests placed on top of that. This loam 
should be smoothed off in the nests so that it is just a trifle 
higher on the outside and in the corners than in the center. 
This will keep the eggs close together and prevent them from 
rolling into the corners and getting cold. Rye straw should 
be placed around the outside of the nest while the middle 
should be filled with chopped hay or short rowen. 

If the hollowing of the earth in the center is just right, 
it will keep the eggs together, but will not pile one over 
another so as to crush some of them. Eggs in such a nest are 
not liable to break as the hens will not have a chance to jump 
down on them, but must walk in from a floor which is nearly 
level with the nests. 

Eggs with good shells should always be selected. A 
broken egg is very disastrous to the success of the hatch 
unless soon discovered and all the besmeared eggs washed 
in tepid water. 

Set Hens That Mean Business. 

But to return to the hens themselves. They should be 
tried two or three days on false eggs. Those that appear 
wild and intractable should be thrown off and better ones 
substituted. It is well to have all the hens in each bank 
of four nests selected from one flock so that they are acquaint- 
ed. There is then no quarrelling when let off to feed. Good 
hens having been selected they should sit on worthless eggs 
for two or three days, when the eggs that they are to hatch 
should be placed under them. 

We have told how to avoid crushed and broken eggs as 
much as possible. The other main difficulty and one of 
the essentials to a good hatch is to keep down 
the lice. 

Kill Lice and Mites. 

The hens should be dusted thoroughly with some insect or 



64 CHICKS 

lice powder when placed upon the nest and, if badly infested, 
again four days later. A final dusting should be given about 
four days before the hatching day. Two of these dustings 
during the sitting period will entirely rid the hen of lice 
and do much to insure a good hatch, and further, it reduces 
the liability of head lice on the chicks. 

Mites are troublesome pests in hot weather and a few 
of them will drive the best sitters from the nest. Fortunate- 
ly kerosene will keep them away if applied to the woodwork 
of the nest in liberal quantity. This should be done after 
each hen leaves the nest with her brood, making the nest 
perfectly mite-proof for the next one. This oil will keep 
the mites away from the woodwork and the powder will 
keep them from the nest and hen. 

These sitting hens should be fed whole corn, with oyster 
shell in good supply before them, when they are off the nest. 
They should be fed every day at a regular hour. Promptness 
should be the rule. If a set of hens have been fed at 10 
a. m. for a few days they are fretful if not fed at that time. 

Flatten the Nest When Eggs are Hatching. 

As soon as the eggs begin to be picked, the nest should be 
widened and flattened. The straw should be taken out 
and the rowen or short hay should be drawn into its place, 
the idea being to flatten the nest so that the eggs do not rest 
against each other. This greatly reduces the liability 
of crushing eggs or chicks. The chicks may stay in the 
nest from twenty-four to thirty-six hours after hatching. 

After hatching the chicks are put into our summer coops. 
There is a little sand put on the floor of the coops and a very 
little hay chaff. Clear sand is the first grit for a chicken 
and it is worth while to see that they get it before they are 
fed anything. Small chick grit is very necessary from the 
start. 

The First Feed. 

The prepared chick feeds have succeeded the old fash- 
ioned food of hard boiled eggs and cracker and milk. On 
the whole it is a good change and nearer nature. These 
finely cracked seeds keep the chicks running and scratching 
and picking. 



HATCHING WITH HENS 65 

A variety of food is both appetizing and stimulating. The 
boiled eggs and cracker and milk are excellent for a change 
and very nourishing, but, as with all soft and cooked foods, 
they should not be given in sufficient quantity to entirely 
satisfy the chicks' hunger, as the youngsters then become 
inactive. The old fashioned oatmeal is a fine food and makes 
a good change. This may be best fed to the young chicks 
dry, and as a scratch food. A little later hulled oats 
makes another good food and change. 

Cracked corn and whole wheat may be fed in small pro- 
portions when the chicks are two weeks old, but they should 
not be given a full meal of these hearty grains at first unless 
both are cracked especially fine. 

Feed Little and Often. 

The more young chicks are fed the better, provided they 
are not overfed at any time. The most expert chicken growl- 
ers feed from five to eight times a day. "Little and often" 
is the motto of good feeders. Brooder chicks should be fed 
more often than those raised with hens. , 

The reason is obvious. The hen will guarantee the chick 
sufficient exercise, while a brooder chick exercises for his 
food only in confined runs. The- more often it is fed, and the 
less fed at one time, the greater amount of exercise the chick 
takes in procuring his food, the assumption being that he is 
fed in a litter. 

Damp Mashes Advisable. 

After the chicks get to be a month old or more, it is advis- 
able to give some soft food. The writer likes a mash made of 
corn meal, flour middlings, in a very small quantity, and acme 
feed or bran, the proportion being governed by the richness 
of the ingredients. This should always be mixed with boil- 
ing water and allowed to stand and cook. It should be fed 
warm, but not hot. It should be salted and such ingredients 
as bone meal, beef scraps and fish meal may be added. 

Other combinations are available and make excellent 
mashes. That known as provender, consisting of ground 
oats and corn meal is deservedly popular. Chicks like 
variety in mashes as they do in other things. 

The writer believes in mashes, both wet and dry, for grow- 



66 ' CHICKS 

ing chicks. They are fed twice a day after soft feeding is 
once commenced and as the chicks grow the number is in- 
creased to five when they are fully feathered out and are 
on the range independent of the care of mother hen. At 
night wheat is usually fed, though cracked corn is given at 
times for variety. 

Dry Mash Sometimes Useful. 

It has its advantages like hopper feeding. The food is 
always there. The smaller and weaker chicks are sure of 
a good meal when it is wanted. When used in connection 
with the regular feeding it works well if the wet mash and dry 
mash are of different constituents and flavor, the chicks 
eating well of both. When hopper feeding is in practice, 
two damp mash feeds will take the place of the five, even 
during the longest days. 

Cooping the Chicks. 

Fifty chicks and four hens are put into one of our summer 
coops. These coops are eight feet long, four feet wide, three 
and one-half feet high in front and two and one-half feet high 
at the rear. The front is open except for lattice work and 
inch mesh wire put on over to keep out animals. It is 
necessary that the hens that are put into such coops be those 
that have been sitting together. Otherwise they will not 
get along peaceably. 

Separate the Sexes. 

The cockerels are separated from the pullets when young. 
We have two large fields, containing together over forty 
acres about one-half a mile apart. The pullets are taken 
to one field and the cockerels to the other. Separating 
leaves usually twenty to twenty-five pullets or cockerels 
in a coop. Here they are kept until it is very cold or until 
snow comes. 



SUCCESSFUL HATCHING AND REARING. 

Making the Nest and Feeding the Sitting Hen — Operating the 
Incubator — Handling the Eggs — Brooding and 
Feeding the Chicks. 



By James Shackelton. 

There is much that everybody knows which everybody 
is always telling; there is much that few know and is never 
or scarcely ever told. So I propose to deal chiefly with 
these obscure matters. 

Not much need be said about natural hatching. The 
nest should be made right so that eggs tend to be in proper 
positions, in a close bunch, not tending to fall away from 
each other. The nest material should not be wet nor of 
long, stiff straws or hay that will tickle and disturb biddy. 
And biddy should be taught, even made, to leave the nest 
once a day to feed. She ought to have water where she can 
sip it without leaving the nest or even rising from the 
eggs. Her food is best if rather meagre rations of whole 
corn or wheat and some grit. * It is not wise to give her 
the usual egg rations, for if she should lay while sitting, 
she is apt to discontinue sitting. It is best not to give any 
hen all the eggs she can cover. Fifteen eggs of two ounces 
each is about the limit reasonable for the biggest hen. 

Hens that are not properly fed while sitting become 
emaciated, their bodily heat is lowered, hatching is made 
late, or even poor hatches result. Many hens will not of 
themselves seek food sufficiently often. It is well to make 
sure that hens are disposed to return to their nests speedily 
after feeding; an absence of half an hour is the limit at 
any season and much less in cold weather, if the nest is 
exposed to the cold. The nest should be comfortable 
and airy, not draughty, not susceptible of becoming at all 
as an oven. Consider the hen's comfort. Don't rely on 
biddy's instinct finding a proper nest. Often a hen does 



68 CHICKS 

find an unusually satisfactory nest of her own choosing. 
Often she will make a nest in long grass just before a bad 
wet spell that lasts for many days. It is pure folly to 
trust hens' instincts for anything just because one of them 
is known to be very smart or very lucky. 
Set Only Well=Shaped Eggs. 

Never give a hen misshapen eggs unless you have no 
others. They are quite apt not to hatch good chicks even 
if strongly fertile. It is well to test eggs under hens, for 
fertility, after about five or seven days incubation, earlier 
for white shelled eggs, especially if you have several hens 
sitting at one time. You can then give all fertile eggs 
to some of the hens and provide the others with fresh batches. 

As to artificial incubation, it is usually best to follow 
with intelligence the instructions sent out with incubators. 
But many people seem to think that an incubator can give 
pure air to eggs when the air of the room is impure, and 
that is a futile expectation. The incubator should be 
where the air is pure, where the air is rather moist than 
very dry, where the temperature varies as little as possible 
day and night throughout incubation. No incubator always 
has absolutely even heat in all parts of the egg chamber. 
To offset that have every egg in every part of the chamber 
at some time or other, by moving them from center to 
sides and to ends on a system made certain by marking 
every egg. Thin-shelled eggs among thick-shelled eggs are 
likely to dry out too quickly so that they don't hatch. Eggs 
that show spots all over when held before a light from 
uneven thickness of shells are subject to the same trouble 
as thin-shelled eggs. ' The incubator door should never be 
opened while hatching is going on. The reason is that 
when chicks hatch they give off much moisture in drying 
out and this moisture helps the eggs that have not hatched. 
When the door is opened this moisture escapes and very 
frequently the later hatching is totally spoiled by this. 
Chicks are thus dead in shells for no other reason than 
that the egg membranes were too dry when the chicks 
needed to break the shell in order to breathe freely, and 
the chicks could not break the tough membranes. Con- 
sequently the chicks speedily suffocated. 



HATCHING AND REARING 69 

Chicks should not be fed at all until fully seventy-two 
hours after hatching. They should have water and grit 
as soon as hatched. If the chicks are with the hens you may 
let the hens do as they will about first feeding. As a 
rule, you will find, if you investigate carefully enough, that 
most hens do not feed chicks until they are three days old. 
They may run around with them, teach them to pick grit, 
teach them to drink, but as a rule, they don't teach them 
to eat until at least three days old. 




Feeding the Early Broods. 

A chick is not ready to eat food by the mouth until at 
least three days after hatching. It has enough egg yoke 
in -its intestines to last four or five days. Other food ad- 
ministered before this yoke is digested is just a risk of 
stagnation in crop or elsewhere, and blood poisoning fol- 
lows. That ten chicks survive all this while forty die 
is no reason why one should be subjected to it. 

After about ten days of infant treatment, chicks ought to 



70 CHICKS. 

eat about as adult fowls except that large size grains are 
not of course suitable for them. But they can eat whole 
wheat at four weeks, whole corn at eight weeks. Whole 
oats are scarcely proper for chicks except in small pro- 
portions and with plenty of good grit and abundant activity. 
But hulled oats are the best grain food chicks can eat. 
Chicks need animal food after first four days of feeding, 
even if you do not give them animal food, as milk or eggs, 
before that. Service of animal food to chicks can easily 
be overdone — is often greatly overdone. Five per cent of 
total food by weight is enough for a beginning and eight per 
cent should never be exceeded at any time up to twelve 
weeks of age, and ten per cent should never be exceeded 
at any age. 

Don't "Coddle" the Chicks. 

Chicks should not be kept overwarm, not be coddled at 
all. Chicks that need coddling are never much good as 
adults. If they are healthy chicks, well hatched, their 
apparent need of coddling is your own fault. Chicks should 
be hardened, gradually, but rapidly. When hardened they 
are better without much brooder heat. 

They will grow well, feather rapidly and well, if you 
don't coddle them and if you feed them rightly. Chicks 
should be made to work for the bulk of their food as early 
as possible, should be taught to scratch for dear life and 
do that every day of their lives ever after. 

Eighty degrees Fahrenheit in the brooder is about 
what the best chicks need as a starter if they are gradually 
cooled off from temperature of the incubator during, say 
three hours. It seems to be unsafe to tell this to most 
people. I wrote it with the utmost care for Californians 
a year ago. One man had nearly all his chicks die just 
because he did not take account of proper precautions 
plainly told in my directions. Another man who followed 
my suggestions with intelligence reared every chick hatched. 
The funny thing was that the man who lost nearly all 
his chicks was a neighbor of the man who lost none. 



REARING CHICKS WITH HENS. 



Simple, Successful Methods of Caring for Little Chicks Reared 

by the Mother Hen — Taking off the Hatch — The Feed 

for the First Three Weeks— Brood Coops and 

Where to Place Them — How to Destroy Lice 

and Mites — Main Features of the Work. 



By Geo. D. Holden. 

This is a subject ever old, yet ever new; something new 
regarding it may be learned each season, although the 
fancier may have had years of experience; but it is the poul- 
tryman of little experience rather than the old breeder that 
this article is intended for. 

It is the chicks with the mother hen of which we wish to 
treat, and as the average fancier raises most of his chicks 
in this way it is a subject of general interest. We will sup- 
pose that the mother hen has been given proper care during 
the three weeks she has been on the nest and that the chicks 
may be " supposed" to be free from lice. To be on the safe 
side each chick should have its head and throat well greased 
upon being taken from the nest. For this purpose we have 
found lard mixed with a little carbolineum liquid lice killer 
to be a fine thing; enough of the liquid to turn the lard a 
light brown in color. With this mixture grease the top and 
sides of the head and the throat; this will kill any lice that 
may have fastened themselves upon the chick, and gives the 
little fellow a fair chance for his life. When the chicks are 
to be marked by punching the webs of the feet it should be 
done at the time of taking them from the nest, not leaving 
it until they are older with the chance of not being able to 
identify them again. 

Taking off the Hatch. 

It should be understood that the chicks should not be 
taken from the nest until at least thirty-six hours old, at 



72 CHICKS 

which time they will be ready for their first feed. When 
the chicks are all taken from the nest, greased and marked, 
then give the mother hen a good dusting with some good in- 
sect powder before giving the chicks to her again, as it is of 
great importance that both hen and chicks should be free 
from lice if the chicks are to make rapid growth and keep in 
good health and vigor. Most of the ills of chick life may be 
traced to the ravages of lice and one of the main duties of the 
fancier in the care of his chicks is to keep them free from 
these pests. 

There are, no doubt, many ideas as to the proper feed for 
young chicks the first few weeks of their lives; but experience 
has taught us that the best feed for a young chick is dry feed, 
small grains, etc., as found in the best of our prepared chick 
feeds. There are several good brands of this on the market, 
and we know of nothing that is better for young chicks from 
their first meal along through the first few weeks of their lives. 
We have never had a case of bowel trouble in our chicks 
since using such feed for the first three weeks; the small grains 
seem to be just the thing for the little fellows and the small 
amount of animal matter put up in the feed is sufficient for 
them in that line. After the first three weeks one may begin 
giving bread soaked in milk, but feeding it as dry as possible 
by squeezing out the milk and crumbling up the bread. 
We also begin feeding ground green bone at this period; 
get the joint bones from your meat market and feed the chicks 
the best part of it, that is, the most tender and juicy part. 
A good bone mill will put it in shape so the chicks can eat 
it without any trouble. 

Feed Little and Often. 

Beed the chicks a little at a time, but feed often; scatter 
the feed in chaff, or some good scratching litter to give the 
little fellows the exercise necessary to develop their strength. 
Don't over feed; a bunch of young chicks require but little 
at a time and should not be given enough to stuff their 
crops, but enough so that it may show in the slight swelling 
of the crop that indicates a fair meal. When a month or 
six weeks of age they can be fed more heartily, but in general 
it is best to be moderate in the amount fed and to feed often. 
We keep water within their reach from the time of their 



REARING WITH HENS 73 

first feed. Some people do not give water for a few days, 
but we believe in giving it from the start. 

For the first week or so we keep our chicks in the loft of 
our barn, in a warm dry place with plenty of light, where 
they are free from drafts and cold and can scratch in chaff 
to their hearts content. At the end of the week, or ten 
days if early in the season, we move them to their outside 
quarters; we gather them up and place them in a box that 
has a sliding cover perforated with holes to give ventilation 
and as soon as all are in the box we give them a good dusting 
with good insect powder. We also give the mother hen a 
good dusting before returning the chicks to her; this treat- 
ment is necessary in order to keep the chicks rid of lice. 
The Coop and its Location. 

A brood coop for hen and chicks should be so constructed 
as to afford ample protection from storms, the hot rays of 
the summer sun, the destructive rat, skunk or weasel and 
with a double door at front and back, the inner one of fine 
wire mesh and the outer one of boards. The outer doors 
will serve as shelter from rain and sun, and the inner doors 
when closed down at night will keep out rats, etc. Where 
coops are located in grass runs the chicks will have plenty 
of green food, but where the runs are without grass the fan- 
cier must provide it for his chicks. For young chicks the 
grass must be cut up in short lengths and they should have 
what they will eat at least once a day. Where grass is 
very scarce, vegetables, chopped fine, will answer; it is 
simply a matter of keeping as near to nature as possible. 
Where the chicks have free range, where grass and vegetation 
is plenty, it requires less attention from the fancier than 
where the range is devoid of vegetation, as animal life in 
the way of bugs, insects, worms, etc., is found in greater 
abundance on good grass land than on land devoid of vegeta- 
tion and chicks confined to bare runs depend upon their 
owner for their animal and vegetable food. Brood coops 
should never be placed in yards in which mature fowls are 
kept as the old fowls will make life miserable for the chicks 
and interfere materially with their growth and development. 

A fair sized hen will take care of twenty chicks, if not too 
early in the season, and it is a good plan where several hens are 



74 CHICKS 

coming off at the same time to use only as many for mothers 
as are necessary to properly care for the chicks; but where 
chicks are of different varieties it is best to place some of 
each kind under the hens that are to be used as mothers, 
so that they may be accustomed to their color, as otherwise, 
they are likely to kill those that happen within reach that 
are different in color from their own; that is, a hen that has 
all white chicks will not tolerate a black or dark colored 
chick around, but will kill it if within reach. By giving 
each hen some of each color, where more than one variety 
is hatched, trouble will be avoided and the coops in which 
such hens are confined may be placed quite near each other, 
and a chick from one entering another by mistake will not 
be injured, as the hen will not know it from her own. 
Separate According to Age, 
Do not keep chicks of different ages in the same enclosure 
if it can be avoided; that is, do not allow those together in 
which there is a difference of several weeks in age, as the 
older ones will annoy the younger ones to the extent of 
retarding their growth. As' near as possible keep those of 
the same age in the same enclosure. From the time the 
chick is hatched, all along through its days of growth and 
development, keep it free from lice. Lice kill more chicks 
each season than any other cause, and they must be fought 
from the start and kept down if one would secure the best 
results. After chicks are placed in brood coops it is a good 
plan to dust both hen and chicks once a week for the first 
few weeks, then at longer intervals; through the season. To 
dust the chicks use a good powder blower and when chicks 
are under the hen raise her carefully and blow the insect 
powder on the chicks, it may make them blink and snap 
their eyes, but will not hurt them; to dust the hen thorough- 
ly take her from the coop, place her upon her back with 
wings outspread, then place a knee on each wing and blow 
the powder all along her breast and body, then take her in 
the hand and blow powder in the feathers of the back and 
neck. This style of treatment of hen and chicks once a 
week for the first few weeks will pretty well clear up the lice. 
Do not dust hen and chicks the same day, but about three 
or four days apart. The dusting of the hen will very often 



REARING WITH HENS 



75 



answer the purpose as the chicks in brooding get their heads 
and bodies more or less covered with the powder that has 
been blown on the hen, but to be on the safe side dust both 
hen and chicks. 

Much of the time during April and the first half of May 
the chicks cannot be out of doors to any great extent, 
and some sort of an exercising or scratching place is a neces- 
sity. The ordinary brood coop will hardly answer the pur- 
pose, not being large enough, and our plan has been to con- 







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A Coop Six Feet Long and Three Feet Wide, With Glass Window in 
Front, Which Serves as Quarters for Hens With Early Chicks. 



struct a coop with the main part three feet by six feet with 
an addition at each end, twenty inches by twenty-four inches; 
these end parts to be used for hen and chicks as brooding 
quarters and the main part as exercising room. The sides 
of the main part should be on hinges and of the double door 
pattern, the outer one to be of wood and the inner one of 
inch mesh wire screen; the wooden door to have a good 
sized light of glass set in it 

When weather is cold or stormy both sides (back and 
front) of the coop may be closed and this scratching room 
will be warm and comfortable. In case of wind coming 



76 CHICKS 

against one side of this coop, and too strong for the chicks, 
that side may be closed and the other opened; or, when the 
weather is nice, both sides may be raised and the chicks have 
a good shady spot in which to rest. The roof may also 
be on hinges and thus be a convenience in the feeding of 
chicks or cleaning of coop. The end apartments, where 
the hens are confined, may each have a hinged door at the 
back for convenience in handling the hen, and the opening 
into the main part should be slatted so that chicks may 
pass through into the main part, but hens cannot. The 
roofs of both main part and addition should be of the shed- 
roof pattern. Such a coop will answer for two hens and 
forty chicks and the chicks may be kept there until time to 
change them to fall or winter quarters. 

A coop for a single hen and twenty chicks could be made 
with main part one-half the size of the double coop, but the 
latter coop will be cheaper to construct in proportion to its 
size and will save time in the care of the chicks. By set- 
ting four or five hens at the same time the chicks may be 
given to two hens and in such a coop they will be 
comfortable in all kinds of weather. In cold or stormy 
weather it can be closed tight enough to keep the chicks 
warm, and in warm weather can be opened so as to allow 
plenty of ventilation and shade. 

Protection From Rats, Etc. 

It will be seen that the ordinary brood coop, one large 
enough for hen and chicks for night use, when the chicks 
are brooded, is not sufficient for the comfort of the chicks 
during such times as they cannot run outside because of 
storms or severe weather. Some shelter should be pro- 
vided that will admit of exercise beyond that possible in 
ordinary brood coops and whatever plan may be followed, 
whether along the line of the coop we have mentioned or 
some other line, it must protect from heat and cold, allow 
of ample ventilation in warm weather, and be a protection 
from the ravages of rats, cats, etc. If left so that rats can 
get in at night, the time when they do the most damage, 
then in some localities it would be a hard matter to hatch 
enough chicks from the average sized flock to keep the rats 
busy disposing of them; an ordinary, strenuous rat will get 



REARING WITH HENS 77 

away with from ten to fifty in one night, and he is not in 
the least careful to take just the poorer specimens, but takes 
the most promising ones as well. Thoroughbred chicks 
are rather expensive feed for rats or lice, and the best plan 
is to keep the chick premises rid of both. A good cat, 
that has not developed a taste for young chick meat, makes 
about the most satisfactory rat trap that we have ever used. 
We have one that makes it her business to inspect every chick 
coop on the place at least once a day and rats and mice are 
scarce indeed; yet, with such a good protection against rats we 
still make our chick quarters rat-proof. It is best to be on 
the safe side and take all possible precautions. 

When the chicks reach broiler age and from that time on 
they should be looked over carefully and those specimens that 
have disqualifying defects, or show that they will never be 
of more than ordinary quality, should be culled out. The 
ordinary specimens may be given longer time to show quality 
if the fancier is doubtful, but the culling process should be 
thorough, gradually weeding out all specimens that do not 
show a reasonable degree of quality. Most fanciers are 
not blessed with an abundance of room and are inclined to 
hatch more chicks than they have space to raise to maturity. 
The only thing to do is to cull out the poor specimens as 
soon as their age is sufficient to indicate their probable qual- 
ity at maturity; by close culling room is made for those speci- 
mens that indicate good quality and the fancier is able to 
go into winter quarters with a well balanced flock in a well- 
matured condition. 

Discard the Weak Chicks. 

In the American varieties, where size cuts some figure, it 
does not pay to bother with those chicks that do not seem to 
grow, that is, do not keep pace with those of average size 
in the flock. They have the same chance as the others, but 
seem stunted, and generally are so. The best thing is to 
put them out of the way as soon as it is seen that they are 
lacking in vitality and very likely will always be under size. 

The mother hen should receive good care as well as the 
chicks so that she may be in good health and condition 
while with chicks; a hen that is somewhat out of condition 



78 CHICKS 

is not a fit mother as her poor conditon will soon affect the 
chicks and their growth will not be what it should. 

If at any time chicks appear dumpish and do not seem to 
have much appetite, you may be certain something is wrong, 
and in the majority of cases it will be found that they are 
troubled with lice. As we have said, lice are the prime cause 
of most of the ills of chickhood and it is only by constant 
care and watchfulness that the chicks may be kept free of 
them. 

Don't for a moment think that because chicks are well 
treated for lice when taken from the nest the one treatment 
will do for the entire season; it possibly may, but the chances 
are that others will be necessary. It is best to put them 
through the dusting treatment at regular intervals 
for the first six weeks of their lives; after that at longer 
intervals. 

The Main Points to be Considered. 

If one were to condense a chapter on the care of chicks 
raised by hens to a few sentences it might be well covered 
by the following: Set eggs from healthy, well-mated stock; 
use as sitters females that are quiet and gentle and in good 
health; keep hen and chicks free from lice; provide a varied 
and wholesome bill of fare; provide comfortable, healthful 
quarters and keep them clean. That is about the whole 
thing in a "nut shell," and it must not be supposed that 
the raising of chicks successfully is such a very difficult 
undertaking, requiring elaborate paraphernalia, a big stock 
of poultry remedies and much scientific knowledge. The 
main point is to keep them healthy and keep them growing; 
do this in the simplest way possible and your way will be 
a good one. 

Coops must be constructed to meet the demands of com- 
fort for all kinds of weather; the style of the coop is imma- 
terial so long as it fills the bill and does the work. The 
same is true regarding the feed; if any one has found by 
experience a line of feed that does the work satisfactorily 
then stick to it. Any method of treating for lice that does 
the work should be followed out each season. The aim 
should be to work out, in each case, the most simple and 
effective plan, for it must be effective to be successful. 



REARING WITH HENS 



79 



Coops should be made as durable as possible so as to be 
used several seasons; it will be a saving of time and expense 
to build them in this way for a temporary affair seldom gives 
good satisfaction. 

A Work of Pleasure and Profit. 

The care of chicks may be a task to some, but to the 
genuine fancier it is a pleasure. It gives him an oppor- 
tunity to watch their development from shell to maturity and 
to store up knowledge concerning the development of color 
in plumage, etc. He can use this knowledge to good ad- 
vantage in his work of mating next season; in fact, it is 
only by a careful study of chick life and its development 
that a real knowledge may be obtained of the tendencies and 
development of color of plumage, and the care of the chicks 
throughout the season gives the best possible opportunity 
for such study. As we have said, it is a source of pleasure 
to the real fancier rather than a task. 




SUMMER CARE OF YOUNG STOCK. 

Roomy Coops, Good Food, Freedom from Lice, Sufficient 
Shade Make Healthy, Profitable Chicks. 



By C. A. Dutton. 

The "danger period" which causes the poultry raiser so 
much anxiety for the first six or eight weeks of the chick's 
life is past. The young stock now has more strength and vi- 
tality and is not so subject to "set backs," caused by change 
of feed, exposure, and other things. The important thought 
from now on is to care for and properly feed the young stock 
to enhance its steady growth and perfect development. 

One of the things to guard against especially, as the 
summer advances and the nights become hot, is overcrowd- 
ing in the roosting or brood coops. 

A brood coop three feet square may comfortably hold 
thirty-five or forty chicks up to three weeks old, but they 
very soon double in size and require twice the amount of 
room to be comfortable. 

Crowding is Dangerous to Health. 

A sign of overcrowding and overheating at night is 
droopy wings and a lack of that sprightly action and growthy, 
healthy appearance, that are seen in properly cooped chicks. 
And, again, a coopful of chicks is a veritable hot bed for lice. 
These pests are ever present and unless measures are taken 
against them constantly they will gain a foot-hold. There 
is so much said and written about fighting lice that it may 
sound like a chestnut to some as it did to the writer in times 
past. But a few costly experiences with lice will teach 
most of us that they are the worst enemy of the poultry 
industry, and should be unceasingly besieged. 

I try to protect chicks from lice by a thorough dusting 
of the mother hens, before and after hatching. I use a bak- 
ing powder can with holes punched in the cover which makes 
a handy and economic powder box. But quite often lice 



82 CHICKS 

will be found on the young chicks even with this method, 
and the only thing to do then is to catch them and with a 
machine oil can drop sweet oil on their heads and under their 
throats. 

If chicks are four or five weeks old, lice may be found 
in the fluff feathers. Lice will leave the head as soon as 
these feathers start and a little lice powder sifted into the 
plumage here will kill them all. 

The coops used on our farm will comfortably shelter 
twenty-five to thirty four-month-old chicks. They are 
light and easily moved from place to place. 

A very essential factor in the care of young stock is the 
feed. 

After chicks are two months old they will live on most any 
feed. But the breeder who is raising poultry for breeding 
and exhibition must give the feed question more than passing 
notice. 

A Satisfactory Method of Feeding. 

There are so many different methods of feeding, many of 
which are good, that I shall not attempt to argue which is 
best, but will give my way of feeding which gives me most 
satisfying results. For a whole grain ration I feed equal 
parts wheat and millet seed morning and evening until chicks 
are three months old. At noon I feed a dry mash made of 
one part cornmeal, two parts ground oats and one part bran, 
by measure. To this mixture is added from fifteen to twen- 
ty per cent of beef scraps. This is fed dry in feed troughs. 
It is surprising how soon they will learn to eat this feed and 
nothing is left but a few oat hulls. 

When chicks are about three months old the millet seed 
is replaced with whole oats. Oats is one of the very best 
feeds for chickens, old and young.. 

When the chicks are about five months old I begin to 
teach them to roost in the main house. Brown Leghorn 
chicks at this age will take to the trees, unless taught to roost 
elsewhere. The brood coops are located near the main house 
and by coaxing the chicks into the main yards with feed, 
I can soon teach them to roost in the main house. This 
saves a lot of work in the fall. One will realize this after 
he has climbed round in tree tops on a frosty moonlight night 



SUMMER OARE 



83 



in the late fall trying to catch some scarey Brown Leghorn 
pullets. They are always timid when approached on their 
tree-top perch and it may be a week before all of them are 
caught. 

Shade is Necessary. 

I nearly forgot to speak about shade. Chicks can stand 
very hot weather if they are not exposed to the direct rays of 
the sun. A large maple grove on our farm furnishes plenty 
of shade, but where natural shade is not available cheap 
pole sheds with green hay thrown on will provide artificial 
shade and be much enjoyed by the little ones. Another 
very important factor, in the care of young stock as well as 
old, is regularity in feeding and all detail work. This is 
an established fact in other branches of the live stock indus- 
try and none the less true of the poultry business. In 
closing I may say that the subject of caring for chicks in 
summer may be simmered down to this — roomy roosting 
coops kept clean; sound grain, whether fed whole or ground; 
never allow peace to reign between you and lice; keep water 
in a shady place and grit near by; and last, be regular in 
feeding and in all other details. 




CARE OF THE GROWING CHICKS. 



Four Well=Known, Successful Breeders of Standard=Bred 

Fowls Tell Briefly How They House, Feed and Care for 

the Chicks to Secure the Fastest and Best Growth 

and Development During the Summer Months. 

Oats is One of the Best Feeds for Growing Chicks. 
By C. M. Renne. 

Summer is the season of the year when all the fanciers and 
poultrymen are interested in the methods which will promote 
the best growth in the chicks. Having been unusually 
fortunate in rearing the -chicks placed in brooders, I have 
been tempted to write on how I feed and care for my White 
Plymouth Rocks. 

My chicks are hatched in incubators and reared in out- 
door brooders. They remain in the brooders until they are 
nearly or quite feathered out, say six or seven weeks, with 
a larger run as they get older. Then they are removed to 
colony coops made of dry goods boxes. I do not place 
more than twenty-five in each coop and put them out near 
a corn field or meadow where they have free range and find 
all the bugs and grasshoppers they can eat. When they 
are five or six weeks old I begin feeding whole wheat, cracked 
corn, and oats. Oats I find to be one of the best feeds for 
growing chicks, in fact I feed them the year around to my 
whole flock and have always had very satisfactory results. 
Let me urge the reader never to try to save by buying tainted 
or poor chicken feed, especially 'for young chicks, as it is 
sure road to disaster. I also keep sour milk before my chicks 
at all times and you can find nothing that will promote a 
faster or better growth. They may remain in the colony 
coops until cold weather when I place them in their winter 
quarters. 

Be sure that everything is kept scrupulously clean, drink- 



CARE OF GROWING STOCK 85 

ing fountains, coops and brooders, and I am sure you will 
vote with me that the chicken business is profitable and 
pleasant. Success to you all is my wish. . 



Keep the Growing Chicks in Small Flocks and Give Them 

Plenty of Room and Food. 

By E. C. Willard. 

We have noticed that many who succeed in bringing 
chickens through the first few weeks of their lives do not get 
them to grow fast and develop quickly afterwards, and we 
think an outline of the methods which have proved quite 
successful here may be helpful to others. 

When the chickens are taken from the brooders, or as 
soon after as is convenient, the sexes should be separated. 
We put those intended for market in small yards and feed 
fine cracked wheat, fine cracked corn, sifted, and beef scraps. 
Chickens intended for breeders and layers are put in lots 
of twenty in small houses located in large yards, where there 
is plenty of shade and grass, clover, oats or rye. 

We feed in hoppers, a mixture of two-thirds cracked corn 
and one-half wheat in one hopper, or compartment, and grit, 
charcoal, bran and beef scraps, mixed in equal measures, 
or beef scraps alone in another. As soon as the chicks 
will eat them we mix oats with the wheat and corn. We use 
galvanized drinking fountains of the inverted flower pot 
pattern. We fill them when necessary, rinsing each time 
and washing with hot water often. 

We prefer to keep our flocks in small houses and large 
yards with ample range rather than confined in small yards. 
The small houses are easily removed and the chickens do 
not crowd when only twenty are in a coop. Our small 
houses are made of box lumber and are about three feet by 
six feet on the ground, three feet high in front and two feet 
behind. The ends, back, roof, floor and two feet of the front 
are made of matched boards; a space one foot wide at the 
top of the front is covered with one-inch mesh netting. A 
door two feet wide is placed in the center of the front. Along 
the top of the front is a one-inch board, twelve inches wide, 
hinged to the roof. This is supported by a wire and pre- 



86 CHICKS 

vents both rain and sun from beating into the interior. 
It can also be turned back upon the roof, or allowed to 
hang down and close the opening in very bad weather. 

The stock is kept in these nouses until it goes into winter 
quarters. We have a few large colony houses about six 
feet by ten feet built for individual brooders. They have 
floors and the sills are rounded up at the ends so that they 
can be hauled about. The last broods of pullets are kept 
in these until late fall and sometimes all winter. 

By cooping growing chickens in small colonies, preventing 
crowding, giving practically free range, abundant shade, 
good food and fresh water at all times, we can produce 
strong vigorous chickens. And we find that by furnishing 
everything in ample proportions, cooping in the open, 
airy houses and bringing them to an early and natural matu- 
rity we produce pullets which will stand cold and changeable 
weather well and give us a good winter egg yield. 



A Lighted Lantern for Warmth, Dry Grains for Food and 
Piano Boxes for Coops, 
By P. F. Tassie. 

My method of caring for the chicks after leaving the 
brooder, is as follows: 

Coops are arranged in the yard with the fronts facing 
east and a run attached. The reason for facing east is 
that they get the early morning sunlight, and it is warm for 
them, and during the afternoon they are more or less pro- 
tected from too much heat by the -shade of the coops; 
this is essential where one has to supply artificial shade. 

The chicks are kept in the runs for a few days until they 
become accustomed to their new home, and are later given 
their freedom. In order to protect them against sudden 
storms catching them in the open they are occasionally 
called in and given a small feed of grain on the inside of the 
coops to insure their finding their way in should a storm 
arise. This has been of great advantage during the past 
month or so. 

Should the day or night be cold a lighted brooder lamp is 
placed in the coop, or if you have not a brooder lamp a com- 



CARE OF GROWING STOCK 



87 



mon stable lantern will answer the purpose, and this also 
allows them to warm up whenever they come in from out- 
doors. And let me say, this question of heat is one of the 
greatest factors in the growth of the chicks. Keep them 
reasonably warm at all times. Warm chicks will not crowd 
or smother, and the benefit will be seen in their development. 

These coops are kept bedded deep with straw and the 
chicks sleep on the floor, not having any roosts. 

The feed consists principally of dry grains. At first they 
are fed chick food and as soon as they are able to take larger 




Separate Colony Houses and Yards for Growing Cockerels and Pullets. 



grains they are given wheat, barley, and cracked oats, to- 
gether with some cracked corn; these grains are their main 
feed, more especially the oats and barley. About four times 
a week they are given beef scraps, bone meal and charcoal, 
together with good sharp grit. The water fountains are 
all of galvanized iron, and are filled three times a day with 
good cold w r ater, and are covered with a shelter of boards 
to shade them from the sun. 



88 CHICKS 

Every morning they are given some lawn clippings, con- 
sisting of clover, timothy and blue grass, in addition to what 
they can pick up through the day. A separate yard is kept 
seeded to alfalfa or other crops and they are turned into this 
at intervals. 

As soon as the cockerels become troublesome they are re- 
moved and given special care so as to develop into large, 
vigorous birds. The pullets are allowed to grow without 
forcing of any particular kind as I believe the best growth 
to fit them for the show room, and to obtain good, fertile 
eggs is a natural growth rather than one to force them to 
lay at the earliest moment. 

A sharp lookout is kept for lice at "all times, and twice a 
week the chicks are given a dusting with lice powder. 

I aim at all times to keep the chicks moving, for a moving 
chick is a growing one and a growing chick is a healthy 
chick. The birds are turned into their winter quarters as 
soon as the weather turns cold in the fall. 

Piano boxes turned over on their backs will make good 
coops for chicks, so that when it is raining they still have 
a place to scratch in, and at the same time keep dry. 



Free Range on Green Grass is a Decided Advantage — 

Separate the Sexes. 

By John Kruse. 

How do I obtain my best results with my chicks from the 
time I transfer them to the open colony houses from the 
brooder? Usually I follow out one system, or practically 
one system, of caring for them from year to year, but I 
find I progress along slightly varying lines as conditions vary 
according to surroundings and climatic conditions. It is 
difficult to acquaint others with your theory, though it 
may be simple, and make them understand it as you do; 
many fanciers have an entirely different way of feeding and 
caring for young and growing poultry and yet succeed fully 
as well. My system might prove faulty in their surround- 
ings, but with it I succeed admirably. 

I have accomplished the most with my incubator chicks 
in this way: I take them from the nursery brooder when 



CARE OF GROWING STOCK 



89 



three weeks old, then if weather is cold and damp, as we all 
find our Minnesota weather in March and April, I transfer 
them to another brooder where the artificial heat is about 
forty degrees and where the hover compartment is sufficient- 
ly high so that the chicks can stand up without their heads 
touching the top. In the month of May I can usually 
shift them from the baby nursery, when three weeks old, 
right into good tight colony houses and keep them there until 
the chicks are too large for them. 




Attractive and Successful Colony Houses for Growing Chicks. 



I start all my young chicks on rolled dry bread crumbs 
and oatmeal, then introduce and use prepared chick foods 
until chicks are old enough to eat wheat, kaffir corn and 
millet, and, perhaps, once a week, cracked corn. Corn is 
too fattening to feed often and I believe in building frame 
first. I feed only twice a day after the chicks are three or 
four weeks old though they always go to roost with full 
crops. Our chicks have good grass runs, plenty of shade, 
good fresh water and free access to grit, charcoal, oyster 
shell, bran and beef scraps. 

As soon as the sexes are distinguishable I separate them 
as they always do better separate and then frequently vary 
the grains fed. 



THE PRACTICE OF DRY FEEDING. 



A Well=Known Poultryman Explains the Advantages of 

This System for. Growing Stock — Dry Food in Hoppers 

Preferred to Damp Mashes Fed at Regular Inter- 

vals — Its Influence Upon Early and Con* 

tinuous Laying. 

By P. R. Park. 

Chickens are easy to get. Simply a nice lot of eggs and 
an up-to-date incubator allowed to do its work three weeks, 
and there you are — or rather, there the chicks are. 

Each chicken represents an opportunity, recognized by 
the skillful poultryman as a next season's egg producer, 
a fat, juicy roasting chicken, or the head of a pen of breed- 
ing stock. 

As to their development much depends upon their feed- 
ing. If we simply want to raise a few of them to maturity, 
all well and good, but if we wish to give each one a chance 
to develop to the best advantage, and equal or excel either 
parent, we must nourish this young " opportunity " to 
the best of our ability and in so doing we shall make a 
distinct gain. 

Chickens are about one-half bone, muscle and feather; 
the balance appetites, and the larger this appetite is trained 
to become, the more quickly we get the results sought. 

Your show bred Berkshire represents man's careful 
manipulation of a hog's appetite, and we have today an ani- 
mal with generations behind it of carefully developed diges- 
tive systems that will reduce a bushel of corn into the greatest 
number of pounds of pork with less than one-half the food 
waste of the razor-back from which it sprung. 

We should go through the same evolution with our 
poultry. Starting with the newly hatched chick we should 
so carefully feed that we shall have a bird at maturity cap- 
able of reproducing itself with greater vigor and with more 



PRACTICE OP DRY FEEDING 91 

economical digestion — in fact, we must feed to improve 
the stamina in our flock and to develop them along the 
line of the Berkshire — the maximum amount of gain with 
the minimum amount of waste. 

Follow Nature's Suggestions. 

To accomplish this we must solicit Dame Nature's help, 
for we must first of all follow her line or our craft is ship- 
wrecked before we are out of the harbor. Note how she 
adapts her children to the surroundings. For instance, 
put your broad flanked, deep bodied, heavy Holstein into 
the hilly pasture where feed is short and within a few gen- 
erations you will find in their places cattle of one-half the 
size, and thin, pinched figures and a general half-starved 
hustle-for-a-living appearance. 

On the other hand, take the thin, "slim waisted" cattle 
from a hill pasture owner who makes his feed "hold out" 
and place them for a few generations upon the meadows of 
our "down the valley " cousin. This man has feed to sell. 
Soon we have developed a type with broad muzzle, deep 
flank, wide buttocks, every line betokening full feeding of 
rich, nourishing food for generations. 

Take the chickens of a liberal feeder at the age of three 
weeks. They will have strong, thick legs, wide feet and 
long bodies, very few feathers if of the larger breeds, in 
fact their wings will hardly have started to grow; while 
if we look at the youngsters of one of the scant feeders, 
we find short bodied chicks with a general pinched air, 
looking as though they were hardly sure they ever had a 
full meal or ever expected one. 

Take the chicks at this age and give them to the best 
feeder in the world, and he can never make them as thrifty 
or equal to the first lot. The "opportunity" was there, but 
it was not grasped during those few short weeks and Dame 
Nature has decreed that as the chick is to be brought up 
on short rations she must cut the garment from what cloth 
is given her. 

For this reason we must be sure that we are started right 
and then push and push hard; no experimenting, but liberal 
feeding of the right kind of feed. With plenty of fresh 
air at a proper temperature and with sanitary surroundings, 



92 CHICKS 

we have our system started on the right, broad gauge 
road. 

But they will take on the pinched appearance at short no- 
tice if the proper feed conditions are not forthcoming, 
and right here is where multitudes "fall down." They 
start the chick along in nice shape and after the first in- 
terest wanes, or other work presses, the chickens are fed 
when -they think of it, with whatever comes handy, and 
then they wonder why their pullets do not lay as early as 
their neighbor's across the street and that the cockerels 
are lean, lank, thin fellows when they should be fat and 
bringing good prices. Again they have let an ' ' opportunity " 
slip past them. 

The pullets from our "hit or miss" feeder, after being 
placed in winter quarters and liberally fed, will start laying 
in time, but they must get a comfortable layer of fat over 
them before they join the ranks of producers. This wastes 
valuable time and when eggs are high it seems to take long- 
er. If the same feed had been added to the growing 
ration they would have come to laying from one to two months 
earlier, and, in the case of the cockerels, have gone to mar- 
ket at least six weeks sooner and at much better prices. 
Look which way we may, we can find no excuse for scanty 
feeding unless you wish to work off some sour, musty stuff 
on your birds and by keeping them half starved get them to 
eat it and exist (we cannot say "thrive") in a half-hearted 
way. . 

Hopper Feeding for Results. 

The point to be decided is how we shall feed to get the 
results we are seeking. We certainly cannot mash-feed 
young chicks liberally without trouble of a serious nature 
right away, and if we find it best to dry-feed these babies, 
why not the three weeks' old fellows that are building their 
frames for the land of plenty that their early training has 
taught them to expect? Here is where the golden mo- 
ments are slipping by; we must not let them want at this 
crucial point and how can we be sure that they are not 
in want unless we keep a full supply of wholesome food 
in a palatable form within reach at all times? Fifty chicks 



PRACTICE OP DRY FEEDING 93 

with a hopper or dish of proper feed within reach will al- 
ways be full fed and cannot lose a moment's time. 

Perhaps your eight weeks old chickens have reached the 
uninteresting stage or the period of press of other work; 
they are building fast and are every day requiring more 
feed of the most nourishing kind. How can we supply 
them with as little labor as by using liberal sized food hop- 
pers full at all times? 

Just add a supply of water and right kind of sleeping 
accommodations, and you have chickens in the seventh 
heaven; while if fed upon mash, there is a nerve racking, 
"survival of the fittest " rush at every feed time to get what 
they may, and long, anxious hunts between meals. How can 
we expect to fatten a lot of cockerels that are quarrelsome 
enough when full fed, but are veritable cannibals when 
fed on "streak of fat and streak of lean" basis? We want 
to get those quarrelsome fellows off our hands as early as 
possible. First, because they are softer and bring better 
prices; second, because when hard, it takes nearly twice 
the feed to produce a pound of gain; third, because the 
price during the fall months is steadily falling; fourth, the 
sooner they are out of the way, the more room we have 
for the pullets. 

If possible, before they begin to crow, put them in a large 
grass yard out of sight of pullets or hens. Give them a 
hopper of ground, rich food of a fattening nature, and coax 
them to fill up at night with cracked or whole corn, with 
milk to drink if you have it, and we will stake our reputa- 
tion that you will never return to the moist system of feeding. 
Better Feeding for Less Expense. 

With our pullets grown to maturity upon a range and fed 
with a slightly modified ration so they go to the laying 
houses in good plump condition starting at once upon a 
rich, highly nutritious mash in the hoppers, so blended 
that they have no tendency to get over-fat, and with a good 
mixture of grain thrown to them in litter once per day, have 
we not solved most of the labor problems of poultry keep- 
ing for the one man plant or the ten man outfit? 

Here we have hoppers so arranged that they will feed the 
flock all day long for a week at a time without replenishing. 



94 



CHICKS 



The eggs must be collected, the hard grain fed and the birds 
must have their water, but this can all be done at one trip 
with horse and cart nine months of the year. During the 
balance of the season it will be necessary to make an extra 
watering trip in the morning, but fortunately this extra 
work comes when other work is not pressing. 

If you are working a plant alone, how many more birds 
can you care for on this system? If you are hiring labor, 
does it not appeal to you that the birds will be cared for 
in better shape with less high priced labor? If you are in 
it for pleasure alone, will you not get more enjoyment out 
of it if you do not have all the drudgery of the old system 
to contend with? 




A Colony House Which is Placed on the Range to Accommodate Hop- 
per Fed Young Stock at the Minnesota Northwest 
Experiment Farm. 



THE BROILER BUSINESS. 

Broiler Raising Seldom Proves Profitable as an Exclusive 

Business, but May Be a Source of Considerable Income 

as a Part of the General Business of Poultry Keeping. 



By H. A. Nourse. 

There are two .kinds of broilers. The smaller are known 
as " squab" broilers and are very small chicks, weighing 
from one-half to three-fourths of a pound each. The de- 
mand for these is not very great as yet so that their pro- 
duction forms but a small part of the broiler business. 
The average broiler weighs from a pound to two pounds 
and sells for from twenty-five cents to one dollar according 
to the season of the year and the purchaser. The early 
spring broiler is sold for the highest price; fifty, sixty and 
occasionally seventy-five cents per • pound is received for 
especially nice specimens in the latter part of April and fore 
part of May. During June the price falls rapidly and at 
the end of July the price in the open market frequently 
falls to twelve or fifteen cents a pound for very nice broilers. 

It is apparent that if the chicks can be successfully 
hatched, reared and marketed in the time of highest prices, 
the profit is considerable and successful broiler raisers who 
have the stock ready when the price is up, make the short 
season a very profitable one. In years past this fact has 
induced many people to go into the broiler business who knew 
practically nothing of the work and who invested their 
money freely and lost the greater part of it. Many large 
plants have been built with the intention of hatching, 
rearing and marketing these little chickens twelve months 
in the year and while a few of them have been successful, 
the majority of them have not. In fact, very few plants 
which have to depend upon the production and sale of broil- 
ers for their entire revenue have existed long and those few 
have, as a rule, enjoyed the advantage of an exception- 



96 



CHICKS 



ally good local market. The fact of so many failures in this 
business does not by any means indicate that there is not 
money in broilers, but it does seem to prove that as a separ- 
ate industry this branch of the poultry business is success- 
ful in but few cases, under especially favorable conditions 
only. Handled as a branch of the general business of poul- 
try farming or in connection with some other pursuit which 
allows the operator to give his chickens considerable time 
in the late winter and early spring, the production of broil- 
ers is decidedly profitable if correctly conducted. 
Broilers as a Side Issue. 

The egg farmer finds it necessary to do a certain amount 
of business in broilers in order to rid the plant of the surplus 
cockerels before they become a nuisance; the farmer who 
maintains a flock of one hundred or more layers and the 
village poultry keeper who winters his two dozen egg pro- 
ducers may follow the same plan with advantage though 
of course they would not have sufficient birds to make what 
would be called a "broiler business." 

On the combination poultry farms where the business 
of producing exhibition birds, eggs for market and poultry 
for food is carried on, and on the strictly utility farms, where 



) 
1 


■ ■■■]■■■'. ":; : : 


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v % 















An Open Front Shed Which Shelters Outdoor Brooders on a Successful 
Broiler Plant. 



THE BROILER BUSINESS 



97 




Colony Houses Where Broilers are Fattened on a Weil-Known 
Poultry Farm. 



eggs and poultry for market are the mainstay, most of the 
broilers are produced. On these places incubator 
cellars, containing a greater or less number of large incuba- 
tors, and brooder houses, some of them several hundred 
feet long and equipped with hot water heating apparatus 
for heating both houses and brooders, form the main 
part of the equipment. The incubators are put in operation 
in the latter part of January or early in February so that the 
first lot of future broilers go into the brooder. house about 
the first of March. The hatching of broiler chicks is con- 
tinued on most of these plants until the first of May when 
the last broods are taken from the machines. A broiler 
weighing one and one-half pounds requires an average of ten 
weeks in which to grow, the last two weeks of which is given 
to laying on flesh and fat; therefore, the chicks hatched be- 
fore the first of March are ready for market about May 1st 
when the prices are highest and those which leave the shell 
about the first of May are placed on the market in the middle 
of July just before the prices tumble. 

Rearing the Broilers. 

The methods of hatching and rearing of these chicks are 



98 CHICKS 

not different from the hatching and rearing of chickens in- 
tended for any other purpose, except that less attention is 
paid to building vigorous constitutions. The idea is to 
grow them as quickly as possible, covering their light frames 
with as much meat and fat as may be. Since the muscular 
structure must be tender no more exercise is given them than 
is required to maintain their appetites. 

Milk and beef scraps form a part of their diet almost 
from the first and during the last two weeks of their lives 
beef scraps, oats, barley, corn and milk make the greater- 
part of their food, most of which is given them in the form 
of a damp mash mixed with the milk. Various rations are 
recommended for fattening the youngsters, most of which 
are satisfactory under fairly favorable conditions. A ration 
which has proved satisfactory in the writer's experience con- 
sists of three parts cornmeal, one part bran, one part oat- 
meal (with the hulls sifted out) and one part high grade beef 
scraps, mixed with milk. 

This ration, however, must not be fed more than three 
times per day, and if fed to any but strong, vigorous chicks, 
it will soon put them "off their feet" aspoultrymen say. If 
"the chicks are not able to stand this ration and make good 
use of it, the amount of bran and oatmeal should be increased 
half a part each. This ration will make yellow flesh and 
yellow fat. If white flesh is desired a ration composed of 
equal parts of cornmeal, ground buckwheat, oatmeal with 
the hulls sifted out, mixed with milk, will prove satisfactory. 
Some fatteners, however, prefer to replace the ground buck- 
wheat with barley meal. 

Broilers are Pen Fattened. 

Broilers are always fattened in pens and at least one feed 
per day should consist of whole or cracked grain such as 
wheat or cracked corn, for the hard grain assists to keep the 
digestive organs in condition and also provides exercise if 
scattered in a litter for the chicks to scratch for. Plenty 
of grit and granulated charcoal should be constantly in 
reach of the chickens as both are required for good digestion. 

Broilers should always be picked dry and, unless prepared 
for a special retail market, should be forwarded undrawn and 
with heads on. 



FATTENING THE COCKERELS. 

The Advantages of Properly Fattening the Surplus Cockerels 

— Why Some Fatten More Readily Than Others — Care 

of the Cockerels During the Process — The Bkst 

Food for the Purpose — Marketing the 

Fattened Specimens. 



By H. A. Nourse. 

In spite of the fact that editors and contributors are con- 
stantly urging breeders of poultry to market their surplus 
cockerels early in the season, it is true that by far the greater 
number are sent to market in October, November and Decem- 
ber. In some cases it is necessary to delay this work until 
the season is well advanced. The breeder of fancy poultry 
can do no more towards culling his flock than to remove 
specimens that are disqualified for malformation until the 
youngsters have become nearly mature, or at least well 
grown. He must therefore market such of the cockerels as 
he would not sell for exhibiting or breeding well toward the 
end of the season. More than three-quarters of the young 
stock that is shipped to market goes forward in thin to medium 
flesh and has to be offered at low prices. On this account 
it happens that the poultryman who carefully fattens his 
birds and ships them to market in excellent condition secures 
premium prices. That it pays to give some attention to this 
fattening business is obvious. For example, suppose we 
have ten cockerels running about the place which are in the con- 
dition of flesh ordinarily found when the usual care and food is 
given. These cockerels will weigh, when prepared for mar- 
ket, perhaps five pounds each and command, we will say, 
12 cents per pound, or $6.00 for the ten birds. If these 
cockerels are properly fattened they can be placed upon the 
market weighing seven pounds each, and in the same mar- 
ket should command 15 cents per pound, making the lot 
worth $10.50. This gives a profit of $4.50 to pay for the 



100 CHICKS 

fattening process, which is scarcely more expensive for food 
and labor than the ordinary food and care of the birds . 
Some Cockerels Fatten Better Than Others. 

The clegree of success in the work of fattening depends 
considerably upon the condition of the cockerels when the 
process begins. Specimens that have been closely confined 
and fed heavily do not fatten rapidly nor do those which 
have been on a wide range and fed but little. The bird 
which has been supplied with a well-balanced ration, in suf- 
ficient quantity, since the time of its chickenhood will put 
on flesh rapidly and well when attention is given to that work. 
None but thoroughly healthy birds with power of digest- 
ing well all the food given them will show the greatest gain. 
A well-nourished cockerel of medium size should put on from 
one and one-half to two pounds of weight in three weeks 
and present, when plucked, a well filled and rounded car- 
cass, heavily laid with firm meat with a reasonable amount of 
fat. 

Care of the Fattening Cockerels. 

There are three methods of fattening which are success- 
ful if conditions are favorable. The fattening food may be 
given when the chicks have free range and fair results ob- 
tained. In most cases, however, the methods known 
as "pen" and " crate" fattening are preferred. In pen 
fattening the flock of birds is given a small pen under cover, 
with a yard of medium area attached, and is fed regularly 
each day three meals of fattening food. As soon as they 
have finished eating at each feeding time the feeding uten- 
sils are removed, together with any food which is not con- 
sumed. Water is kept constantly before them, and milk is 
provided as a drink, if plentiful, in addition to its use 
to mix the mash. Milk, however, will not take the place 
of water, which must also be furnished. Everything con- 
ducive to the comfort of the birds should be given atten- 
tion. The quarters should be well ventilated and kept 
scrupulously clean. Absolute freedom from lice and mites 
is essential, for these pests not only suck the blood of the 
cockerels, but constantly worry them. 

Crate fattening, so-called because the birds are confined 
in small coops, or crates, where they have no chance to ex- 



FATTENING THE COCKERELS 



101 



ercise, has been exploited very vigorously in poultry and farm 
papers during the past two or three years, and, when the 
proper equipment is at hand and the work is done by a skilled 
poultryman, it is satisfactory. For general use the method 
is not so successful as the pen method. In a test involving 
the two methods made recently at the Central Experimental 
Farm, located at Ottawa and maintained by the Canadian 
Department of Agriculture, it was demonstrated that the 




Fattening- Crates, Where Soft-Meated Roasting Chickens are "Fin- 
ished" for Market. 

pen-fattened birds put on flesh more rapidly and at less ex- 
pense than the crate-fattened specimens. This, too, when 
the work was in the hands of acknowledged experts in this 
particular branch of the poultry business. 
The Fattening Foods. 
The makeup of .the fattening ration depends considerably 
upon the demands of the market in which cockerels are to be 
sold. Most markets in the United States prefer yellow 



102 



CHICKS 



skins and yellow shanks; to produce these a greater propor- 
tion of yellow corn is needed. In markets where white flesh 
is demanded or preferred, a larger proportion of oats can be 
used in the makeup of the ration. 

For the production of yellow flesh, a ration of two parts 
corn meal, two parts ground oats, one part wheat bran and 
one part beef scraps, mixed with sweet skim milk, is very 
effective. This may be fed twice a day, morning and noon, 
and the evening feed may consist of cracked corn one day 
and wheat the next. This ration is especially adapted to 
feeding birds in pens and we do not recommend it for feed- 
ing those in crates. The mash should be fed in troughs and 
within fifteen minutes after it is placed before the chicks, 
the troughs and any food that remains should be removed 
from the pens. Cracked corn and wheat should be fed in a 
deeji litter of straw or leaves and no more should be given 
than the chicks will scratch out at each meal. It must be 



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'Pickers" at Work at a Crate Fattening Establishment. 



FATTENING THE COCKERELS 



103' 




Packing Specially Fattened Roasting Chickens. 



remembered that this ration is very rich and the chicks will 
soon tire of it unless they have plenty of fresh air and some 
exercise, especially if any food is allowed to remain before 
them between meals. A ration less rich is sometimes ad- 
visable and may be made by removing the beef scraps and 
increasing the amount of bran, so that the ration will be 
two parts corn meal, two parts ground oats and two parts 
wheat bran, mixed with milk. Milk is very necessary in the 
fattening ration, as it is of considerable value as a flesh former 
and at the same time ma'kes the mash much more palatable. 
The mash containing beef scraps will put fat and flesh on 
much more rapidly than the one without it. 

When white meat is desired, together with a white ap- 
pearance of the flesh, less corn and corn meal should be given 
the fattening birds. In the experiments at the Ottawa 
Station referred to, a ration composed of two parts ground 
oats and one part each of barley and corn meal, mixed with 
skim milk, was found very satisfactory for use with the 
"pen" and "crate" fattening methods. Although the 



104 CHICKS 

quality of the food mentioned determines to a considerable 
extent the success of the operation, other things must be 
favorable or good results will not be obtained. As we men- 
tioned before, clean, healthful quarters and freedom from 
vermin are essential. 

Preparing the Fattened Birds for the Market. 
The high-class market demands that all birds be dry 
picked. The best method of killing, in our opinion, is to 
stun the bird with a quick blow on the head at the base of the 
brain, and then sever the arteries back of the roof of the 
mouth with a two-edged knife. The latter operation is 
performed by forcing the beak of the specimen open with 
the thumb of one hand, which in addition holds the head 
and neck of the bird, while with the other hand the knife is 
reached down the throat and a cut made directly across the 
throat back of the roof of the mouth. The feathers are then 
removed rapidly though carefully and the specimens are 
placed in ice water to cool, after which they are hung up to 
dry and then carefully packed in boxes for shipment. It 
is absolutely necessary that the specimens be thoroughly 
dried before being placed in boxes, otherwise the moisture 
will cause the paper in which they are wrapped, or the straw,, 
as the case may be, to adhere to the skin of the birds, giving 
the entire shipment a bad appearance when it arrives in 
market. Only one grade of stock should be placed in each 
coop, and any that are not thoroughly well prepared and do 
not present a thoroughly attractive appearance should be 
sold by themselves and not shipped in the same box or crate 
with the better specimens. The price of the whole is likely 
to be governed by the inferior carcasses. In every city 
of any considerable size there is .a class which wants, and 
which will pay for, very fine chickens. It will usually be 
found that some one, two, or three dealers have most of 
this trade and it is with these dealers that the producer must 
arrange for handling his stock. In most cases it will be 
necessary for the producer to see the dealer personally and 
show him, by actual specimens, that he can produce the 
quality that commands high prices. It is not often that 
any particular ability as a salesman is needed to dispose of 
this grade of stock. 



KILLING AND PICKING CHICKENS. 

A Brief Description of the Methods Employed on Large 
Poultry Farms and in the Establishments of Wholesale 
Dealers — The Wages of the Workers. 



By Arthur C. Smith. 

Picking and dressing fowls and chickens, like all branches 
of the poultry business is being rapidly reduced to a science, 
being one of the small but necessary details of the market 
business it has been reduced nearer to an absolute, perfect 
science than has any other branch of the industry. 

Science has not as yet produced a substitute for the hen's 
egg that has interested people to any extent, neither has any 
invention produced a machine for picking and dressing 
fowls, but the way that the most adept pickers accomplish 
that task is certainly very machine-like. 

Pickers, as a rule, do nothing else, making this work a 
specialty. At five cents per bird, they have been known to 
earn nearly forty dollars per week. This speaks volumes 
for the quick machine-like action of the picker. 

The Process of Killing. 

These pickers go about their business as if it were busi- 
ness and while there is no unnecessary cruelty, the dignity 
of the chicken is assailed to annihilation. The more merci- 
ful of the pickers begin operations by rapping the chicken's 
head over a smooth flat stone which stuns them and com- 
plete the killing process either by cutting an artery inside 
the throat, or by cutting the throat outside just back of 
the ear-lobe. The latter method is going out of practice be- 
cause the other leaves the head and neck looking better. 

The braining process is increasing in practice. Some 
pickers make the objection to the stunning method that if 
the bird is hit too hard its muscles stiffen and the feathers 
pull hard, while if not hit hard enough it does not accom- 



106 CHICKS 

plish its object. There is something in this and more in the 
latter than the former objection. They claim that the brain- 
ing process is sure to render the bird unconscious nine times 
out of ten with no hindrance to the picking process. How- 
ever this may be, the bird winces terribly during the brain- 
ing process, before it is accomplished, a thing that there is 
no opportunity and no occasion for in the stunning method. 
If the braining process is a help to the picker, which is doubt- 




The Process of the Braining, Described by A. C. Smith. 

ful, it is certainly no great comfort to the victim if one can 
judge by appearances. 

If the braining process is used, the chicken is taken from 
the box and held firmly under the left arm while the left 
hand holds the mouth open. The sharp knife (better with 
a double edge for a little distance from the point) is drawn 
rather deeply and diagonally across the roof of the mouth, 
coming out at the side, cutting the large arteries. The 



KILLING AND PICKING 



107 



point of the knife is then driven through the roof of the" 
mouth to the brain. This renders the bird unconscious, the 
muscles relax and the feathers consequently come easily. 

Plucking the Feathers. 

The legs are then held firmly in the left hand until the 
bird ceases to struggle, which will be soon, its head is held 
between the knees or between the right knee and the bar- 
rel or box into which the feathers are thrown and the feathers 
are plucked as soon as possible after the braining. 




Removing the Breast Feathers From a Tender Roaster. 



The way a good picker will make the feathers fly is an 
illustration of what may be called "fast work." One would 
think that he had no thought except to get those feathers 
out regardless of whether the chicken held together or not. 
The tail feathers are grabbed all at once in the right hand 
and yield to a forceful snap of the picker's right arm. The 
back feathers are extracted in one or two handfuls more. 
They come in clusters and in the picker's hand look not 
unlike a chrysanthemum in full bloom. The shoulders and 



108 CHICKS 

neck are plucked scarcely more tenderly. All this is done 
in less time than it takes to tell it. The feathers of the 
fluff and thighs are literally torn out, the aim of the picker 
seeming to be to get as many feathers as possible in his 
hand at once. 

Then comes a wing and there is seemingly more care used. 
The left hand grasps the shoulder while the right plucks all 
the secondaries and primaries by one sliding, slipping motion, 
beginning next to the body of the bird and ending with the 
outside primary. This is an action in which the thumb 
scarcely plays a part except to guide the feathers 
into the hand. On the wings the shoulders are most likely 
to tear, especially in young stock. The breast feathers are 
the most difficult to pull without tearing the skin and often 
in young stock, broilers for example, the picker must com- 
mence at the throat and remove but a few feathers at a 
time, plucking somewhat in the direction that the feathers 
grow. 

The short feathers yet in the quill are pulled out by the 
aid of a dull knife, the picker catching these between his 
thumb and the blade of the knife. 

The picking finished, the bird is tossed into a tank of 
cold water and remains there two or three hours. When 
cool the chicks are taken out and allowed to drain and dry. 
They are then straightened out and pulled into shape, 
the wings folded and the finished carcasses hung up. 

The Earnings of Pickers. 

Pickers average about eight to ten chicks an hour. An 
expert will do much better; an average of 150 per day is 
reached by the pickers employed by one wholesale firm. 
They can pick more if called upon to do so, but, of course, 
work longer hours. One picker has a record of having 
earned over eighty-eight dollars in one week. Twenty-eight 
to thirty dollars is this man's usual pay for one week's 
work and thirty-five dollars is not an uncommon week's 
wages for him. This may seem like big pay for this kind 
of work, but it must be remembered that picking chickens 
as these men do it requires an alert mind as well as active, 
skillful muscles. 



PROFITABLE MARKET CHICKENS. 

How the Work of Hatching and Rearing Four Thousand 

Chicks Annually is Done on a Successful Poultry Farm— 

A Description of the Equipment Used — How the 

Chicks are Fed and Cared for — Marketing 

the Products. 



By Arthur C. Smith. 

Dotted among the hills of Norwell and the adjacent coun- 
try are many establishments for raising soft roasters for 
the Boston and New York markets. These are famous as 
South Shore capons. Briefly stated, the business is this: 
The chickens are hatched from August first to October fif- 
teenth. The cockerels are caponized at the proper age and 
placed on the market when ripe. This is generally between 
April first and July first. This soft roaster business is one 
of the best propositions connected with the poultry indus- 
try, but it certainly requires a man who understands run- 
ning incubators and brooders, to conduct it successfully. 

This (the use of incubators and brooders) is the part of 
the business that we want especially to study and we shall 
for the time neglect the details of the soft roaster industry 
to study this, an incidental part of the business. 

We selected the plant of Mr. Smith, located in Norwell, 
as the subject, and we were fortunate in our selection, for 
not only did we find a splendid plant for utility uses, a 
flock or two of splendid chickens, but we met splendid peo- 
ple. To talk with Mr. Smith on any topic is to talk with 
a thinker and you are compelled to think whether you are 
inclined to or not. Mr. Smith belongs to a class of poultry- 
men who do their work with their heads rather than with 
their heels. How he does it we shall endeavor to explain 
in this article, paying particular attention to the arrange- 
ment and management of the brooder house. 

There is a reason for this. The chicks that the writer 



110 



CHICKS 



saw in these brooder houses were the liveliest and brightest 
that he has ever seen together under artificial conditions. 
The smallest were two or three weeks old and the largest 
about a pound in weight. A good many of the older ones 
had just been disposed of for broilers at forty cents each. 
The Brooder House. 

To take up the study of the brooder house, Mr. Smith 
first "built a house sixty feet long and fourteen feet wide. 
This was first fitted up with a hover system of brooding, 
but this was not to Mr. Smith's liking and it was taken out. 
The remodeled house has an aisle a little over two and one 
half feet wide at the north side, the house facing south. 
This house is about six feet high to the eaves and has a 
pitch roof. To hold the heat down where the chickens 
would get the benefit, a ceiling was constructed on a level 
with the eaves. There is a cement floor throughout but the 
floor level in the aisle is six to eight inches lower than in 
the pens. 

The pens are supplied with from two to four inches of 



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Exterior of One of the Brooding Houses Mentioned by A. C. Smith. 



PROFITABLE MARKET CHICKENS 111 




Interior of One of the Brooding Houses Described by A. C. Smith. 

sand according to the size of the chicks. The larger the 
chicks the less sand. This gives more room under the 
pipes. The pens in this house are six feet wide by about 
eleven and one-half long. 

Hot Water Heating System. 

The heating system is hot water with eight pipes, four 
flow and four return. These pipes are put up about six 
inches above the cement floor. The space between the sand 
and the pipes varies with the size of the chicks. These 
pipes are placed about eight inches from the aisle parti- 
tion, which is about two feet high, and are about two inches 
apart. 

Mr. Smith now uses one and one-half inch pipes, some- 
times three flow and three return and sometimes four in 
each set, according to the amount of air space in the house 
being fitted. The partitions in these houses are about 
three feet high. The bottom is of wood and the rest wire. 
Uniform Heat and Proper Ventilation Make Good Chicks. 

Heating and ventilation problems, Mr. Smith says, must 
be correctly solved in order to raise profitable chicks. To 



112 CHICKS 

these problems Mr. Smith has devoted a great amount of 
study. He soon found that if the chicks were healthy and 
comfortable they would not crowd into the warm corners. 
He determined to have a uniformly warmed house, free from 
drafts- but thoroughly well ventilated. He has succeeded. 
The writer was never in a more comfortable brooder house 
— warm, no drafts and a plentiful supply of fresh air. The 
ventilators are square' boxes nearly a foot square that run 
up through the ceiling into the large air space above. 

This large air space is ventilated in turn by other air 
snafts that extend through the roof. There are only a few 
of these to the building and the manner of construction 
may be seen in the accompanying photograph of the exterior 
of the brooder house. The ventilating shafts in the lower 
part of the house extend down to about one foot from the 
floor, and are in every alternate pen. 

A Good Regulator Controls the Heat. 

The uniform heat which Mr. Smith is able to maintain 
is due to two things. First, plenty of heating capacity in 
the heating system; second, to an electrical regulating 
device that Mr. Smith devised. The writer wishes he could 
properly describe it, but is not sufficiently versed in me- 
chanical and electrical terms. Briefly, a thermostat of hard 
rubber and sheet steel is placed under the pipes. The ex- 
pansion and contraction of this completes an electrical 
circuit connected with a clock-like device that opens or 
closes three drafts in the heater. This machine is so ac- 
curate and sensitive that the heat can be controlled within 
two degrees. That is, if a temperature of 90 degrees Fah- 
renheit is wanted, the thermostat can be set so that the 
temperature will never fall below 89 degrees nor rise above 
91 degrees. This regulator can be adjusted so that it can 
run the heat at any temperature by the simple turning of a 
screw. 

A second brooder house has been added to the first on 
exactly the same lines except that the pens are nine feet 
wide. 

Other Buildings of Simple Construction. 

The other buildings scarcely need description in detail. 
The sixty colony houses in use on this plant are nearly all 



PROFITABLE MARKET CHICKENS 113 

six by eight and house fifty chicks to maturity. They are 
set up nearly a foot from the ground and have sand bot- 
toms. No roosts are provided, as they do well without 
them and have better breast bones, an important point in 
market poultry of the fancy sort. Each building faces the 
south. There are but two features that can be classed as 
novelties. One of these is an opening above the window 
about ten inches wide by two and one half feet long covered 
with fine netting. This is always left open except in case 
of a hard rain that would beat in. Then cloth covered 
frames are fitted in. The second is a simple hopper made 
by nailing two boards vertically to the wall of the building 
which have been cut to be two inches wide at the bottom and 
seven inches wide at the top. Other boards are nailed then 
to the edges of these; a shallow box is placed underneath 
and this makes a simple but good hopper. 
House for Laying Hens. 

This is one of the regulation affairs seen for twenty 
or thirty years. It has been adjusted to modern ideas by 
making roosting rooms and open sheds in pairs by board- 
ing up the partition at the end of the first and every sec- 
ond pen. The roosts and windows of the second, third, 
fifth and sixth pens and so on have been removed and these 
changes make these pens scratching pens. 

Eggs Purchased from Farmers. 

Mr. Smith has to buy most of his hatching eggs. These 
are gathered from farmers at fifty cents a dozen. This has 
taken nearly two days of Mr. Smith's time every three 
weeks, but the automoblie has proven successful here, and 
he now covers the same ground in less than a day. Unlike 
most of the South Shore plants, this one does not restrict 
its business to soft roasters, but from August to October no 
variety of chicks is hatched but Light Brahmas. These 
are marketed when ripe. The pullets are grown in their 
natural state but all cockerels are caponized. Pullards have 
proven a failure so far as increasing the weight is con- 
cerned and the South Shore raisers have discarded this 
product because it does not bring in more money. Capon- 
izing pays and therefore the practice is adhered to. 

The South Shore Light Brahmas are small compared with 



114 CHICKS 

the Standard Brahma. They are about the size of a Ply- 
mouth Rock, but retain the Brahma characteristics. They 
are slow growers and therefore keep soft longer than other 
varieties. They may therefore be hatched in August and 
September, in time to get a good start before real cold 
weather sets in, and still be soft and tender in June when 
the best prices are paid. 

After October fifteenth Mr. Smith hatches Barred or 
White Plymouth Rocks exclusively. The cockerels are cap- 
onized at a proper age, but the pullets are sold as broilers, 
sometimes at a pound weight if the price is large, but when 
the prevailing price is not forty to fifty cents a pound, they 
are kept to the large broiler age and sold when they weigh 
two and a quarter pounds. They then bring about thirty 
cents per pound. The cockerels are sold at the same time 
that the Light Brahma cockerels are, and also as capons. 

The Light Brahma pullets are- ready for market in March 
or April and are sold then as they must be marketed before 
they are laying to obtain a good price. 

The Feeding System. 

The chicks are kept in the incubators until the twenty- 
third day and then removed to the brooder house. Here 
the temperature is kept to nearly 90 degrees for a time, 
but is gradually reduced until the chicks are ready to be 
removed to the colony houses. This reduction of tempera- 
ture can be accomplished by adjusting the regulator if the 
chicks are all of an age, or by taking the sand out from 
under the hot water pipes if the age of the chicks in different 
pens varies much. The smaller chicks are fed some good 
mixed chick feed five times a day. Every morning a supply 
of ground scraps and cut clover rowen is given, sufficient for. 
the entire day. The supply of rowen is intended to exceed 
the demand so as to furnish a little scratching litter. Cab- 
bages are suspended from the ceiling just high enough to 
make the chicks jump a little to reach them. A little later 
finely cracked corn, hulled oats and cracked wheat is sub- 
stituted for the more complicated mixed chick feed. Water 
is a constant running supply in each pen, furnished from a 
pipe laid through the center of the house. The chicks drink 



PROFITABLE MARKET CHICKENS 115 

from a small trough hung on the partition. This may be 
removed and cleaned at will. 

Colony Houses for Young Chicks. 

At the age of eight to ten weeks, according to conditions, 
the chicks are removed to the colony houses. Fifty are put 
into each house. There are sixty of these houses in two 
groups, twenty-three in one group and the remainder in the 
other. The chicks are fed by the hopper method, though 
that is varied somewhat. The poultryman makes the round 
with a horse and truck in the morning with his barrel of 
water and a supply of grit and scraps. On certain days the 
hoppers are rilled up with grain. When first put in these 
houses the chicks are fed a mixed feed consisting of cracked 
corn, wheat, oats and barley. After they acquire five 
pounds or more of weight they are fed cracked corn and 
scraps only. The scraps are supplied every day, but the 
corn is fed in hoppers. 

This method enables a man to look after a great many 
birds and if successful it is proof that poultry does not need 
to be coddled or kept in germ-proof ovens. 

Good Prices Obtained. 

From May twentieth to July first the best prices are paid 
for these capons. It does not always pay to hold them for 
the top prices as there is a time when they go back, or 
fall off in weight, and what is gained in price is lost in weight. 
The Light Brahma pullets are usually sold in March or April. 
Thirty cents a pound live, weight is often received for capons 
and they have been sold at thirty-three cents on the South 
Shore. These capons usually weigh eight pounds each and 
ten is not uncommon. The largest bird that Mr. Smith 
ever sold brought him $4.28. Any fancier has very fair 
specimens that he would gladly dispose of at that figure, 
after he has spent considerable money advertising them. 



THE SOFT ROASTER INDUSTRY. 



A Business that is Profitable Whether Conducted Exclusively 

or as a Side Line — How Soft Roasters are Produced and 

Marketed— $200,000 Worth Sold from One Town 

— Eggs for Incubation are Purchased and 

Hatching Begins in August — How the 

Chicks are Housed, Brooded, 

Fed and -Sold. 

By Arthur C. Smith. 

One of the safest, surest and most satisfactory branches 
of the poultry business considered as a means of securing a 
livelihood is the Soft Roaster Industry as practiced by the 
Massachusetts South Shore poultrymen. 

This class of roasters is raised largely in Norwell, Rockland 
and Hanover on the South Shore of Massachusetts Bay. 
TJut it is not a business that is exclusive to these towns. 
There is one large raiser in Plymouth, Mass., another in 
Hingham, Mass., and to the North of Boston, one in Methuen. 

There are several persons who give their time exclusively 
to raising this product, but there are many more who do it 
in a good sized back yard or in a small country-town lot as 
a side issue. The former class raise them by the thousands, 
one party raising six thousand this year, while the latter 
raise from a half a hundred to five hundred. This class 
comprises carpenters, shoemakers, clerks in stores and 
about all classes of people. 

Other Parties Market Them. 

Whoever raises them they are sure to go into the Boston 
market through one of two firms. They are collected either 
by Mr. Curtis or Mr. Farrer, killed, dressed, and shipped by 
them. Mr. J. H. Curtis handles the most chickens, but 
does not attempt the kindred industry of handling eggs in 
which Mr. Farrer is also engaged. J. H. Curtis undoubtedly 



118 CHICKS 

ships more first class market chickens into the Boston market 
than any two other firms. He ships regularly 300 chickens 
a day in season and can triple this output at very short 
notice. Six hundred to fifteen hundred chickens in prime 
order are held in stock on this place, ready to supply any 
hurry-up telephone orders. 

The size of this industry may be calculated when it is 
known that between one and two hundred thousand dol- 
lars are paid for this product from this locality in a single 
season, at wholesale prices. 

The price per pound to the raiser varies from twenty-five 
to thirty-three cents, live weight, for the choice product of 
soft roasters at the best season, which begins in April and 
ends about July first. The last of May to the middle of 
June brings the best prices. Live poultry at these prices 
enables the buyer to count money very fast. 
One Man's Income is $5,000. 

One man, a carpenter, besides working every day at his 
trade, raised in one year seven hundred chicks for which he 
received eleven hundred dollars. The next year he raised 
eleven hundred chicks for which he received seventeen hun- 
dred dollars. Later he gave all his time to rearing these 
fancy roasters. Last season Mr. Curtis took from this 
man's place in one and one half days six hundred thirty- 
eight dollars worth of this product. During the year this 
plant produced chickens enough to bring between four and 
five thousand dollars and has been producing approx- 
imately this amount in chickens for the past three years. 

There is not an adult hen or fowl on this place. The 
hatching eggs are purchased in the neighborhood. Hatch- 
ing begins last of August and the chicks are all in the market 
before the first of July. This arrangement allows from 
one to two months to fit up for another season's business. 

Another plant has annually produced about five thousand 
of these soft roasters and the owner says that the first three 
thousand will pay the bills. This means that the last two 
thousand will give him the net profit. This makes it appear 
that more than two-fifths of the total income is profit as the 
last two thousand are sold at the best prices usually. 

The greater number of those engaged in this pursuit keep 



THE SOFT ROASTER INDUSTRY 



119 




One of the Collecting- Outfits of J. H. Curtis Returning 
From a Trip to a Soft Roaster Plant. 



no hens at all, buying the eggs where the stock seems vigor- 
ous, selecting everything produced before July first. 

In this business the main thing is to make the chickens live 
and grow. These men are now very careful in selecting 
their eggs. They have learned that the health and vigor 
of the parent stock is the greatest requisite to a good and 
thrifty flock of chickens. Some are keeping their own 
parent stock for this reason. 

The Varieties Used 

Are Light Brahmas, Barred and White Plymouth Rocks. 
The latter are rather taking the place of the Light Brahmas. 
Light Brahmas keep soft longer, thus enabling the raiser to 
put them on the market as prime soft roasters at nine months, 
of age, a fact that will always assure them a place in this 



120 



CHICKS 



industry. At this age a Plymouth Rock would bring only 
the price of an old fowl. Then, again, chicks started in 
August and September do a great deal better than those 
started in winter. The percentage of loss is less both in 
eggs and chicks at this time than later, but, as before stated, 
Plymouth Rocks hatched in August or September get hard 
before prices are high. 

Light Brahmas for Early Hatching. 

Light Brahma eggs are therefore always used for the 
August and September hatches. Even until the middle of 
October this variety is hatched. After that Barred or 
White Plymouth Rocks are hatched and those that are 
hatched in December and January weigh as much in June 
as the Light Brahmas that are a couple of months older. 
The point is that a larger percentage of the early chicks are 
raised than of the winter chicks. 

These raisers all testify that the fertility of Brahma 
eggs is very low after October first. They agree that the 
vitality of a Brahma chick is much lower than the vitality 
of a Plymouth Rock in winter. So it seems that the Light 




The Nursery Brooder House on a Soft Roaster Establishment. 



THE SOFT ROASTER INDUSTRY 



121 




Type of Colony Houses Used in the Rearing of Soft Roasters. 



Brahmas are especially fitted for early hatching and the 
Plymouth Rocks for the later hatching. 

Different Systems of Brooding Used. 

To be successful in an undertaking of this kind, one must 
be an expert with incubators and brooders, especially the 
latter. The brooder has been the object of special study 
by these men, yet they differ much in their opinion of the 
best method. Henry D. Smith, a Massachusetts poultry- 
man, has discarded hovers, uses the open piping and heats 
the whole house. He pays no attention to the temperature 
of the house in general, but the effect is that the whole house 
is heated. 

Some use individual brooders until the chicks are from 
three to four weeks old and then put them in a pipe system 
brooder house. Others use the regular brooder house with 
hovers for three to five weeks and then transfer to colony 



122 CHICKS 

houses about six by eight feet on the ground and which con- 
tain outdoor brooders of some well-known make. One 
raiser uses outdoor brooders of his own make for the Septem- 
ber chicks and a hover system brooder house afterwards. 

The writer has seen good chickens raised with all these 
systems, but believes that those raised under hot water 
pipes with no hovers, but with the heat automatically regu- 
lated were the best. 

Chick feed mixtures of well-known makes are almost 
always used for the youngest chicks. They also have beef 
scraps, chick grit and charcoal and are also fed cut clover 
and several kinds of green food. Some breeders a little 
later substitute small cracked grains, such as cracked wheat, 
corn and hulled oats for the chick feed. 

The Colony System. 

This is used universally .after the chicks leave the brooder 
at an age of two to three months. The houses are about six 
by eight feet and house fifty chicks each. All the male 
chicks are caponized and held until high prices prevail. 
The pullets are sorted out and sold before they lay. 

In these houses the birds are fed principally cracked corn 
and beef scraps, though they are given a liberal supply of 
grit, oyster shells and charcoal. They are fed, mostly, 
by the hopper system. These houses are supplied with a 
door and a window. Above the window is a ventilating 
space that is never closed except in case a storm is beating 
in upon the chicks. 

The amount of money expended annually for these prime 
roasters in Boston and vicinity indicates that many people 
are making a fair income from this source. The fact that 
from one to two hundred thousand dollars go into the hands 
of a few people in the vicinity of Norwell each year is proof 
that they are making a good living from this industry, par- 
ticularly when it is known that the same people are raising 
soft roasters year after year. 

To visit these people and see their comfortable homes 
filled with happy and contented families is to convince oneself 
that this branch of the poultry business yields a substantial 
income. 

It would appear from the facts and figures presented that 



THE SOFT ROASTER INDUSTRY 123 

the soft-roaster industry pays large profits. It is hard for 
one who is unacquainted with the details to understand how 
chickens raised at an unnatural time, with all the extra 
expense incident to such raising, can pay as well as do chick- 
ens raised at a natural time and with comparatively little 
expense and effort. 

There are two answers to this question. The first is 
that the expense is not so much greater as might be supposed; 
the second is that these chickens bring a price that no other 
chickens of mature size in the world can command. 

A prominent market man of Boston who handles as much 
fine poultry as any competitor, if not more, in a recent con- 
versation, said that no chicken compared with a South Shore 
roaster in quality. 

The Retail Price. 

These roasters bring, in the height of the season, at retail, 
thirty to thirty-eight cents a pound. The limit seems to be 
about thirty-eight cents. As soon as the retail market men 
demand more, people shift to broilers and green ducks. 
Soft roasters bring the highest prices about the middle of 
June, but they are high from the first of April to the last of 
June. After that they are superseded by the broilers. 
There is but one form of chicken on the market that brings a 
larger price per pound than the soft roaster and that is the 
early broiler. These occasionally sell for fifty cents per 
pound and weigh three fourths of a pound to two pounds 
each. They do not pay as well as the roasters at that be- 
cause the producer and the seller reap a profit on two pounds 
instead of seven to ten pounds, the usual range of weight in a 
soft roaster. 

These are the retail prices and not the prices that the pro- 
ducers get. As a rule the raisers get six to eight cents a 
pound less than the retail price. The difference is divided 
between the jobber as he may be called, that is that man 
who collects, kills and ships to the dealers and the retailer. 
In some cases the wholesaler has to be counted in, for while 
some of these chickens go direct from the jobber to the dealer, 
a great many are handled by wholesalers. 

South Shore roasters in December and January bring 
about twenty-two cents per pound at wholesale. The price 



124 



CHICKS 



gradually increases until thirty-five cents to thirty-eight 
cents is reached about the middle of June, when it gradually 
drops again to about twenty cents in October and November. 

The Division of Labor. 

The division between the different branches of this indus- 
try is very noticeable and is a factor in its success. The man 
who raises South Shore roasters as a business contents him- 
self in a great majority of cases with that branch of the busi- 
ness solely. In many instances he does not even attempt 




A Consignment of Soft Roasters Delivered to the Killing Establishment. 



to produce his own eggs and less often does he market his 
product. 

The eggs are generally produced by small keepers who 
have hens as a side interest. Some of the flocks from which 
the eggs come are kept on farms, but many inhabit the rear 
of a large town lot. Probably more than ninety per cent 
of all the eggs from which these prime roasters are hatched 
come from flocks not owned by those who raise the chickens. 

The jobbers are supreme in this South Shore enterprise 
and the two firms mentioned have control of every fine 
roaster on the South Shore. Although some of the growers 
ship direct to the wholesale and retail dealers, they do so 



THE SOFT ROAiSTER INDUSTRY 



125 



on the accounts of these jobbers. One grower became a 
trifle dissatisfied because it was apparent to him that he 
was not getting every dollar made on his chickens, and finally 
told the jobber with whom he dealt that he wanted every 
dollar that was to be had and that he was going to ship 
direct, on his own account thereafter. The jobber had had 
similar experiences and readily consented. The result was 



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Packing- Soft Roasters for the Fancy Trade. 



that he had this grower's goods the following season and was 
informed that the grower had not done as well as when he had 
allowed this middleman his share of the profit. 
Wealthy People Pay High Prices. 
People who will pay thirty-eight cents a pound for chicken 
are not running ordinary boarding houses or restaurants. 
It may surprise you to learn that not even the best hotels of 
our large cities and summer resorts use these birds when they 
are sold at the highest prices. This product is consumed 
exclusively by the wealthy trade. Such trade, however, 



126 CHICKS 

exists in every large city and when these people discover an 
exceptionally palatable dish, the price must be exorbi- 
tant to prohibit it. 

This prime South Shore product is sold in Providence and 
Newport as well as in Boston and they have begun to call 
for it in New York. 

There are many chicken raisers along the South Shore who 
have no facilities for raising- these winter chicks. These peo- 
ple raise roasting chicks in the natural season. The prices 
for these do not compare of course with the prices obtained 
for the off-season birds. Still those who raise them keep 
at it, which indicates that there must be profit in the business. 

Pullets are Marketed Before They Lay. 

It must be remembered that the pullets are sold before 
they begin to lay, for after that they would bring only the 
prices of fowls. Consequently these pullets are marketed 
just before they commence to lay, no matter at what season 
of the year. Many are sold in January and February. 
These are the ones hatched late in the summer and early in the 
fall. Pullets form the greatest supply at what is called the 
" mid-season. " 

The features of this business and some of the causes of 
success may be said to be the high prices paid for a first 
class roaster during the month of April, May and June; 
the ability of these people to raise these chicks in small, 
cheap houses and by a system of feeding that does not re- 
quire an undue amount of labor; the fact that the staple 
food, cracked corn, is usually the cheapest grain in our 
market. 



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